I've been printing small quantities from a PLA filament spool on a Craftbot printer for about two months now. Recently the printed objects have been coming out very brittle. Some structures that printed fine two months ago are now difficult to re-print. The print head gets clogged easily, and when the object does print, it's quite brittle and 1/4" to 1/8" rods will easily snap off if not handled gently.
I'll admit to not following the precautions for storage of PLA. It's much easier to just leave the filament installed rather than trying to remove it after each print, so this one spool has just been sitting on the back of the printer for all these weeks now. I'm sure it's been humid some of the days, we've had some rain here.
Has the spool of PLA been damaged just by leaving it exposed to room air for two months? Could that be the sole cause of the brittle prints, or are there other possible causes? Is there any way to fix the spool or future prints from this spool, or do I have to scrap it and get a new spool?