Pests like moths and carpet beetles love to munch on fibers that have little bits of food, sweat, and dead skin on them. If you put your knit socks away dirty, you’ll be more likely to find holes in them when you take them out again.
If you, like me, have a lot of socks and need to wash and store them all at once, I find that the bathtub can be a great place to soak them all before putting them away. I just dump a basket of socks into the lukewarm water, add a little wool wash, and let them sit for a while. Then I hang everything on a bamboo drying rack in the garden, where they’ll get lots of fresh air to dry them quickly.
Many knitters think that the safest way to store their knits is to put them in an air-tight container. While that works for some locales, it can be a fatal mistake in others. If you live somewhere humid and choose an air-tight storage option, you’ll be trapping moisture in with your knits when you pack them up. Over time, that moisture can cause a musty smell and even mold or mildew on your stored knits. To prevent that, it’s best to use storage baskets with lots of air flow.
If you live somewhere very dry, air-tight storage might be a good option for you. This could also be a good choice if you live somewhere very dusty or sandy, like the desert or the beach, where it’s hard to keep stored clothes clean. In other words: know your home environment. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation.
Cedar is an excellent natural pest repellent that also smells pleasant. I like to add a cedar sachet or two to my sock baskets. I also use these cedar disks in my boxes and drawers, and I pop them onto hangers, too. If natural materials aren’t strong enough to keep the pests at bay, you can also try mothballs or other pest control methods.