Stinky yarn - EEK!

So last night, my computer crashed - because I tried to do a backup. The GeekGods are laughing at me, I'm sure. Fine, says I to myself, I'll just go knit something instead. Off I go to grab some Christmas variegated out of the stash for an ornament idea I have.

The stash stinks. In fact, the area of the basement where the stash is stashed stinks. It smells of propane, so I panic, thinking we've got a gas leak which (a) could kill us all in our sleep, or (b-more importantly) has totally ruined my yarn! Checked the gas lines, checked the intake/output vents, etc. No smell anywhere except the yarn. Dang!

So I drag it out to the family room and dump it out on the pool table (appropriately covered first, of course) to air out. Laid out each ball nice and neat - some smell worse than others. Can't figure it out. Decide to grab a ball of something else (can't remember what now) out of the under-the-pool-table stash boxes, open them up - this yarn stinks too! WHAT?! What the hell is going on here? So, it gets dumped, sorted, tidied, and I have a pool table FULL of yarn. No, really, the whole table is covered. Pictures to follow.

Now, because this stash is stashed nowhere NEAR the other stash, there couldn't be any connection - but the smell is the same. Like propane. DING! Light goes on. The stash boxes are cheap clear plastic. Plastic is made of oil, as is propane. THE STORAGE BOXES ARE MAKING MY YARN STINK! The cheap plastic is offgassing (probably because we now have heat on in the house, it's November) and contaminating the yarn. Some worse than others, probably depending on fibre content. But stinky stinky stink. So, those boxes will NOT be holding my yarn anymore. DH2B is going to build me cedar boxes, milk-crate size, to restash the stash. The size is ideal because then I can sort by project and carry the box from chair to chair, or sort by colour, whatever, and the cubes will be portable and lightweight. Most importantly, they will be cedar. My yarn will smell good.

This was last night. I was very close to what I can only assume is knitter's hell, in this scenario. Tonight, thank the Knitting Gods and Goddesses, the yarn does not stink - as much. Still a bit manky, but another day or two and it should be fine. I have some cedar blocks resting gently atop the sea of yarn to speed the de-stink-i-fying process.

Moral of the story: do not store your yarn in cheap clear storage boxes. It will stink.