At Pelindaba we are big fans of everything handcrafted, homemade, homegrown...and the like. We do everything (from plant cultivation to product manufacture) by hand at our farm. Handmade gifts for the holidays, like knitted hats, mittens and scarves, are right up our alley!
Crafting a knitted gift for someone by hand is a gift indeed! It takes time (often hours upon hours), effort, skill and affection to create something that will keep a loved one warm during the winter months.
After winter's use, what happens during the warmer seasons of the year when your lovingly knitted gift is not needed? Heaven forbid moths find it!
Lavender Essential Oil is a powerful moth and insect repellant!
Lavender Essential Oil is one of the most versatile essential oils found in nature. In addition to being a natural insect repellant, lavender essential oil is also a topical analgesic and antiseptic, it's an effective solvent (one of the very first solvents used in the early days of photography - those must have been some sweet-smelling photos!) and, not to mention, it's a wonderful fragrance!
Lavender has a long history of effective insect repelling. During the periodic plagues that ravaged Europe through the Middle Ages, lavender posies or sachets were worn to mask the scent of death, but the unexpected benefit was that it repelled the fleas that carried the disease! Lavender, along with other sweet herbs, was also strewn about floors to fragrance the air and keep lice and other insects at bay in domestic settings.
Fast forward to today, and you'll find lavender is an effective and natural bug repellant for skin application, flea and tick repellant for dogs and cats, and moth repellant for protecting sweaters, winter knits and the wool stashes of knitters and crocheters.
Safe to apply directly to woolens, a few drops is all that is needed periodically for continued and fragrant protection against moths.
As a natural deterrent, lavender is much better for you, your curious pets and little ones, the environment and your woolens than pesticide-laced mothballs or moth crystals. It's impossible to get that chemical smell out of knits!
It's best to clean woolens before storage. Lavender Essential Oil is non-toxic. It will not kill moth eggs or larvae, so be sure sweaters, hats, coats, etc., are clean and well brushed before storing them with lavender.
Another method of bringing lavender to your woolens is with dried lavender sachets. A few sachets hung in closets or tucked in drawers will also work well. The lavender bud, provided it has been harvested late in the season like ours have, will be heavy with fragrance. Gently squeezing the sachet will break open the buds and release the essential oil.
Lavender essential oil is most effective when you can smell it. As you sense the fragrance dissipating, add a couple more drops of essential oil or give your sachets a couple more squeezes to refresh the scent. Sachets can last up to a couple of years with periodic squeezing. Eventually all the essential oil will be released, after which they can be replaced or refreshed by adding a few drops of pure essential oil to the dried lavender.
If you are gifting any handmade knits this holiday season, be sure to include a little bottle of Organic Lavender Essential Oil or a few Organic Lavender Sachets to help the recipient care for the gift you created for them with love for many winters to come.
An excellent gift for friends or family members who are avid knitters, crocheters, spinners or weavers is a larger bottle of Organic Lavender Essential Oil to protect their precious wool collections throughout the year.
Even if you aren't the DIY type, you can still gift handmade this year. We have handcrafted gift ideas for everyone on your list! Just pick out the perfect gift and we'll send it directly from the farm to the recipient with Free Standard Shipping over $50 in the US and a complimentary handwritten (of course!) gift note.
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