This has been a week of much contemplation, and even worry. As a child that grew up in relative peace, and prosperity; I have only the stories of my parents, grandparents. and great-grandparents to compare to my relative "ease" in life. Rightly or wrongly, many people are looking back across history to times of unrest and challenge. Some feel those earlier periods eerily compare to happenings in the geopolitical sphere today.
Regardless of which side of the news cycle we may be on, there's little doubt that we are in for some significant changes in our day to day. The talk of tariffs - fees or taxes that are imposed on goods that come into the United States from other countries - has a lot of people commenting on how it will or won't impact them, but for the sake of this blog post, I wanted to focus on the fiber arts corner.
Broadly speaking, any increases in costs that hit a business are going to be felt by consumers as sellers seek to distribute those costs across their inventories. This means we cannot simply look at labels on yarn skeins and decide that tariffs weren't mentioned for THAT country, so we're OK. I (sadly) expect to see significant jumps in price points at big box craft stores as they source much of their inventory from China, which is facing a proposed 60% tariff from the incoming administration.
This will mean a couple of things for fiber fanatics. First off, we can expect to see higher prices on yarn imported from China, and likely on most yarn from anywhere that has acrylic as a component fiber. For those that NEVER use acrylic yarn, there may be somewhat of a reprieve, but that remains to be seen as the ripple effect of the imposed tariffs is not yet fully known. Keep in mind that most products we use every day are made from raw materials that come from all over the world.
Secondly, and on a more positive note, most of us have robust yarn stashes in our homes! I have LONG said that I'm good to go in the next apocalypse as far as yarn and fabric.
(that seemed more amusing before this past week,... frankly)
I started down this somewhat dark path, and had to turn off my television, and avoid major news outlets. I began to look for knitting and crocheting videos to distract me and boost my spirits, but my algorithm of past interests kept bringing videos from the U.S. Holocaust Museum into my feed. I clicked on one, and was hooked by their quality and the depth of their stories.
I've always been a history buff, and as far back as middle school, was horrified, fascinated and frightened by humanity's capacity for cruelty to others, as demonstrated across history and especially in the Holocaust. The stories of survivors have been carefully collected over the years; a treasure since many are into their 80's and 90's at this point in time.
In my own study of the horrors, I have often contemplated how I would react to such circumstances, and how we - my family - would survive. Growing up in rural America, and with grandparents that survived the Great Depression, we all came up with some basic skills around gardening, reusing things until they disintegrate, and being OK with clothes and other items that are not at the height of fashion. Throughout most of my adult life, raising my kids and figuring out who I am (another blog post altogether), I saw these skills as ways to save money and make do with what we have. They were survival skills, but of a less stark quality. These skills over the years have helped me save money on costumes, gifting, decorations, and even food when there was always an abundant supply (in the stores) of completed options,... for a price.
This week I began to contemplate how these seemingly quaint (for the 21st century) skills may, once again, end up being more important to daily life. In this sobering contemplation, I happened upon one of the videos by the U.S. Holocaust Museum about a woman whose mother was able to save up enough money by KNITTING for others to find their father, and escape Poland to the safety of England, where they were able to reunite as a family. This video is embedded at the end of this post.
While I would like to say that this could never happen today, I'm afraid that history - even more recent history - tells us otherwise. Perhaps more unsettling, MOST of us are relatively powerless to change that reality other than in our own small circles where we can gird ourselves and our families to withstand whatever may come.
I began to write about what we may want to consider right now on my other blog site in two separate posts: A Time for Discernment and New Rules. As those thoughts relate to crocheting, knitting and sewing, I would offer the following:
Set a goal of saving as much money as possible (putting it in the bank or into a safe/safety deposit box)
Limiting spending on anything not necessary (e.g. other than bills, food, etc.).
Organize existing crafting supplies and tools for better access to them when we inevitably need to turn to them for comfort and peace.
Consider more HANDMADE and simple gifts this year. No going into debt for the holiday splash.
It is my hope and prayer that this period in history is brief, and morphs quickly into that "kinder, gentler nation" that George Herbert Walker Bush encouraged more than 35 years ago. As we wait to see if that will indeed come to pass, I will take comfort in knowing that I have some skills that may end up being as useful tomorrow as they are enjoyable today.
In closing, I wish a similar comfort to all who share my love of crocheting, knitting and sewing.
(C) 2024 Stitch 'n Dish
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