I've been hearing about people getting laid off lately and it's made me wonder about the state of the yarn industry. Rumor has it that the last TNNA wholesale show was slow (see here as well). This is typical because the yarn companies are selling their summer-weight yarns, which don't usually sell as well as their fall counterparts.

However, it's said that crafts businesses do better during economic slumps. According to Village Wools in New Mexico, that seems to be the case. Even the Huffington Post has noticed how people turn to yarn during economic slumps.

However it seems that some knitters still have smaller budgets than they used to. Associated Press has some tips on how to make the most of your knitting hobby on a budget.

So, what's my point here? We're in a recession, yarn sales have been a bit slow, but it seems that there's still the desire to knit, and it seems to be something that people turn to for comfort in a bad economy. This gave me a totally wacky idea.

Is it possible that knitting and crafting in general could get us out of the recession? I know it sounds crazy. And as President Obama likes to say, there is no "silver bullet" that will just fix the economy. But doesn't it stand to suggest that getting more people to craft would at least help the economy?

My point is that we should be getting more people to knit. Don't you know someone who has always said that they've wanted to try knitting? Do you remember what happened once you learned how to knit? Do you remember falling in love with knitting? Do you remember the rate at which your yarn stash grew? You had to buy knitting needles and notions and cases and of course there was the yarn.

It's not like I'm saying that all knitters must indulge in straight-out consumerism to strengthen the economy. We can help our fellow knitters out by encouraging new knitters to buy from existing stashes, or find vintage knitting needles on ebay. The income from these sales helps keep money moving in the economy.

So that said, I'm thinking about making a pledge to teach one person how to knit by June 15th, 2009. I'm hoping that at least 10 people will join me in this pledge. If you want to, sign up here.

edited:

Those who join will have their blog featured on Knitluck.com. Document teaching someone to knit on your blog and we'll show it. Video it and put it on youtube!

edited again:

I'm spreading this campaign to embrace all of the fiber arts. Knitting, crochet, needlepoint, cross stitch, spinning, weaving, teach it, share it.

In my Interweb travels I came across a well-designed web site for a yarn I had never heard of. Intrigued, I sent an email to the proprietress inquiring as to where in California I could purchase this yarn and discovered that, there are no retail stores in California for Llamajama and 1855 Yarn.

I'm sure that there is a West Coast yarn store that could remedy this terrible omission.

Of course, you can go online and order directly from their web site, but there's something about being able to see the yarn in person that I'm missing.

That said these yarns still look mighty tasty.

They have an alpaca wool yarn.

Merino Wool Yarn.

1855 Handspun Wool

Cute patterns til the cows come home.

I haven't seen any reviews on the web, has anyone tried this yarn?