To me, this means I need to continue to look for opportunities to buy local. In the grocery store this means I can buy apples and potatoes now, but need to leave lettuce and berries on the shelf.
In the yarn store this means looking at local yarn. For my Mystery KAL shawl with Never Not Knitting I purchased Briggs and Little Regal, a worsted weight yarn milled in New Brunswick, Canada.
I will keep looking for yarn that is local, and support the local economy while continuing to focus on finding ways to bridge the gap between one dollar and the next. Because not all dollars are equal.
I am glad I am on a yarn diet this year. I hope by 2017 the canadian dollar will have rebounded. It is shockingly low, eh? Makes us rethink our three month trip in our camper to the USA. Gas and camping are cheaper there, but with our dollar exchange I don't think it would be a wash. Also another good Canadian yarn is Ancient Arts in Calgary.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this as the Aussie dollar went down into the US$0.60s a while ago. It's back up to something more respectable now (AU$1.00 = US$0.80). There aren't many local bricks and mortar yarn shops where I live so I am often forced to go searching online for the right thing. If I were more mobile and able to get to markets etc. I would probably have a better network of local spinners and dyers etc. but the exchange rates can make it very expensive to buy yarn. I had never thought of 'buying local' in terms of exchange rates and 'making your dollar go further'. I always think of the cost to the environment in freight etc. and ordering locally is kinder to the environment while supporting the local economy. We need to keep our local communities going, don't we?
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