Moths
I have a favorite favorite sweater -- it's store bought, but it fits perfectly, and it's 100% wool. It is the sweater I measure to make sure a pattern I want to knit will fit me.
For years I took really poor care of it. Each spring I'd just fold it in with the other sweaters and sweatshirts (putting away dirty sweaters BAD), and I took it to the drycleaners in the fall before I started wearing it (drycleaning BAD). Last spring I thought, you know, this is my favorite favorite sweater, I should take better care of it. So I hand-washed it in Eucalan and carefully packed it away in an airtight box for the summer. And when I took it out two weeks ago, I found five moth holes.
The @#$% moths ignored the stash and the several other (less favorite) sweaters in the vicinity, and went straight for the favorite favorite sweater. No sign of moths in my second-favorite sweater, which was packed and stored the same way.
You can't win. Do the best you can, and hope, and when that fails, there's always duplicate stitch.
(From a post I made to the Socknitters list on 16 October)
