Yarn Shortage…

I mean we all knew this was gonna happen - well maybe not everyone unfortunately…but like so many things that were easy to foresee we are now living in a yarn shortage. Now can you still get yarn? Sure. Can you get the yarn you need or want? That is likely not the case. I’ve been trying to find certain shades of Paintbox, certain Sheepjes weights and colors and I have to resort to either paying out the A$$ to resellers or just put that WIP away until ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Why is this happening? Tariffs & a completely unnecessary trade war. For those who don’t know what Tariffs are - they are a tax on Americans for buying foreign goods. Americans pay them. The foreign companies don’t pay them. WE DO. And while Tariffs could be considered noble in that if foreign goods cost more than people won’t buy them - they’ll buy American, it just isn’t that simple because America does not make a bunch of stuff anymore. Oh, and don’t forget that American companies will also use the rise in foreign prices to raise their own prices to just a smidge less - cause who can’t resist benefiting from an economic crisis right?

You can get a short-explanation of how the last 50 years got to this here. And a wonderful Reddit Human really distills it well here.

But in sort, greed. Why pay an American $7 an hour when you can pay a Chinese worker $.08 an hour? Add in politicians who either don’t truly understand economics or do and just want to screw everyone else over to line their own pockets and we find ourselves here - with a yarn shortage. America just doesn’t have enough fiber manufacturing left to support the boom in fiber hobbies.

So the longer this goes on, the overseas yarn will be come less accessible as foreign companies avoid the headache of importing into the US, and if they do keep importing the prices will raise on consumers across the board.

I wish you and your stash the best of luck!