i know what you mean about the $ thing, but the answer is to see it as international rather than american.
tilly, i think the key to it is marketing, use your blog as a marketing tool.
do you have a sitemeter?, if not, get one, it's free and easy to install, will tell you what your blog traffic is like, where people are linking from, country of origin etc.
i get a lot of visitors to my blog from all over the world, which is why etsy being 'international' for me, is a good thing.
also, do you put your photo's on flickr?, that is another way of gaining more exposure for what you make, join some flickr groups, it's all free and a good way of getting your work advertised.
to increase traffic to your blog, again, flickr, will help as people will follow it back, plus, go blogging and post lots and lots of comments on other blogs, it all helps.
tons more advice on u-handbag and craft boom both blogs written by the same person and she gives loads of tips on internet selling/marketing/blogging.
if it helps, write a business plan, map out strategies for the next year. sounds scary but, it depends on where you want to take all this. i know many of us on the a&c board are atm, sewing for fun and just wanting to sell a bit to cover costs. i don't, i'm from a design background, with a lot of industry contacts to draw upon, i have a 2 year plan, which is the first part of a 5 year plan. but even if you don't want to go that far, setting goals is always a good thing.
hth