Making your crafting budget go further!

A little tip to make your crafting budget go as far as possible!

With opening Mindful Ewe, our focus has been on sourcing products and a big part of choosing which lines to stock is pricing. All yarn stores, while part of a community, are fundamentally a business and need to make a profit-Mindful Ewe, for example, is a key part in the supporting of my family.

It is when setting my pricing that I noticed the huge variation on prices. With yarn, generally speaking, the more expensive, the higher the quality or more unique nature of the yarn.  I am not here to budget shame anyone but I firmly believe that when crafting, buy the highest quality you can afford. If this means using yarn from op shops or the big chains, go fo it-doing something that makes you happy is the most important thing at the end of the day. We are also looking for ways, here at Mindful Ewe, to offer something back to knitters who are maybe struggling a little more financially than others so watch this space.

Accessories, including needles and hooks, is really where the pricing goes a little out of control. The same goes, generally the more you spend the higher the quality, but with many stores selling the same items, price comparison is more obvious. With everyone tightening their purse strings at the moment, every penny counts for our craft supplies. I have had a look online at some of our popular products and have looked at the price differences. (Note:These prices are advertised online today and are not on any special offers and exclude shipping. Mindful Ewe has NOT set special pricing for this post and we are not always going to be the cheapest.) Take for example the Knitpro Natural Yarn Swift, prices online vary from $105.95 up to $146.50-that’s a nearly 30% saving or a whole extra skein of hand-dyed yarn! There are similar differences with needles and hooks too, Zing 4mm Interchangeable tips are anywhere from $5.55 right up to $11.90-over 50% possible saving for the same product! And the Zing Deluxe set is available from $79.90 up to $139.90, again, over 40% possible saving.

I understand there are massive differences in overheads of a physical and online store and everyone is free to determine their own pricing structure but these price variations are phenomenal. I really want you to support your local yarn store as much as you possibly can-they are vital to our communities, but also shop around, the saving potential is great and more money in your purse means more yarn you can purchase!