Mothball Smell

[AsheSkyler]

My great-grandmother left behind quite a stash of yarn. I was thinking of making things out of it for various members of the family since they knew how much she loved to craft things. But she was an avid believer of moth balls. At present I have a rather bedraggled skein of yarn sitting on my desk that somehow found its way out of storage and into the yard. Either I've gotten used to the smell or it's very faint now from the fresh air, but I was wondering if anybody knew of yarn-safe tactics on combating the smell of mothballs aside from air-drying? I know vinegar is one of the favorite methods for removing mothball smells, but I can stand the smell of mothballs better than vinegar. Vinegar makes me badly nauseous, as does chlorine and bleach.

 

For the sake of my sanity, I'm thinking about making stuff out of the moth yarn and then treating it with whatever method I can get to work instead of trying to chunk pantyhosed yarn balls into a washing machine.

[sopo]

hmmm not sure but what about putting it in a bag with some charcoal for a while. I know charcoal takes the odor out of a lot of things. 

[LI Roe]

I have put skeins of yarn in storage containers and added fabric softener sheets to combat a bit of mustiness. I just googled "getting rid of mothball smell" and a whole bunch of things came up. The majority seemed to feel that air drying was the best and that washing it doesn't really help.

 

I tried to cut and paste just the link only but it will not come up but if you google what I did (without the quotes), it will give a list of sites. Hope this helps.

 

Roe

[AsheSkyler]

Aye, I did a search first to see what the search engines suggested. I thought I'd ask you guys to see which ones for sure worked. =)

After a few run-ins with eHow, I'm pretty dubious on some suggestions generated.

 

Charcoal is very surprising. I may have to commandeer a lump or two...

[Avon Lady]

Good luck!  And please let us know what, if anything, works!!

[Real Deal]

The only method I know about is airing for mothball smell. If you have a screened in porch, it would be perfect, because you could set up a clothes drying rack and line up skeins across the top. Leave them there for as long as it takes. Then, I'd put them in a bin with scented candles.

 

I know this would take a long time to do all the yarn, but it would probably work.

 

I use scented candles, especially vanilla or black cherry to freshen yarn, and people love it. You can't have the actual candles touch the yarn or they can leave greasy spots, so you just open the wrappers at the top or bottom, or uwrap them, but put plastic baggies under them.

[Granny Square]

"Charcoal is very surprising. I may have to commandeer a lump or two..."

 

I don't know if BBQ charcoal will work (if that's what you meant by lumps) I think they some have lighter-fluidy chemicals in them.  There's charcoal oder eater things that you can get that's specially made for that, and are in containers so won't get things dirty.  Google charcoal + odor, apparently Walmart carries them.

 

I wouldn't use anything that adds scent.  It's OK if something doesn't smell, and you want to give it a nice scent; but in this case you aren't getting rid of the mothball smell you're just adding more scent. 

[AsheSkyler]

Nah, I'd do a proper search through the cleaning and air-freshener aisle for charcoal-based stuff if I go with that. And probably still make jokes about how I was bad last year and only got a lump of coal for Christmas. Or smelly in this case.

 

Aye, no strong other smells. I don't want to risk having the same effect as leaving Lysol in the restroom.

[Real Deal]

I'm sorry if I left the wrong impression. I only use scented candles after yarn has had a long, long airing, sometimes for weeks.

[ReniC]

I use charcoal granules for filtration systems in aquariums. It works very well to remove odors but has a "dust" on it so, I am sure not to make any direct contact on anything.

 

"Charcoal is very surprising. I may have to commandeer a lump or two..."

 

I don't know if BBQ charcoal will work (if that's what you meant by lumps) I think they some have lighter-fluidy chemicals in them.  There's charcoal oder eater things that you can get that's specially made for that, and are in containers so won't get things dirty.  Google charcoal + odor, apparently Walmart carries them.

 

I wouldn't use anything that adds scent.  It's OK if something doesn't smell, and you want to give it a nice scent; but in this case you aren't getting rid of the mothball smell you're just adding more scent. 

[Granny Square]

... the same effect as leaving Lysol in the restroom.

 

Ha ha, off topic but that made me think of a place I used to work that had a (must have been) motion sensor deodorizer by the paper towels in the restroom...every time I used the sink it would spray awful phony-cherry scent on the top of my head...gaak! 

[Ellie 13]

I  with some smelly  last week, my friend said the smell would drive her crazy. She lines a box with Odor-Eaters shoe insoles to store smelly  , says it works for her. I say, if you can stand smell,    or   an item, wash it then hang it outside.

Ellie 13

[RoseRed]

While cleaning out my Mom's house I came across a hope chest filled with old afghans and heirlooms.  Not only was most everything dry rotted - I did everything I could think of and couldn't get the mothball smell out of any of the yarn items.  I ended up throwing them all away.  It was heartbreaking.

 

I tried washing, washing with borax, charcoal, baking soda - nothing worked.

 

I have no idea how to get the mothball smell out of the hopechest either.  I hope somebody has an idea that might/could work.  I'll try it.