Hey There!
My name is Kayla Cepek, owner of EndlessYarnSpool!
My grandmother was a huge influence on me when I was growing up as a little
girl. We were very close - we spent hours upon hours singing and dancing
together, she told me stories about her life, and taught me many life lessons.
Now, one of the things you need to know about me as a child is that I
constantly had a nervous tick. I would pick at my nails and lips all the time,
chew the inside of my cheeks and bite my fingers - you name it.
One day, my grandmother went into her magical closet of stuff and pulled out
a plastic bag with knitting needles, yarn, and crochet hooks. She sat me down,
taught me how to crochet a chain, and I was immediately hooked! (Pun intended.)
Unbeknownst to either of us, the skill she taught me at only 8 years old
would not only help to kick my bad habits, but would turn out to be the most
impactful factors in determining the course of my entire life.
-
Navigating the social and academic challenges of my teenage years was another time the knowledge my grandmother handed down to me came in handy. Crocheting was a healthy escape - a way to express myself in an artistic and creative way, free of the pressure, stress, and expectations that impact high school students all too frequently.
-
As with everything, the more you practice something, the better you get at it. The confidence I built and the empowerment I felt with the success of every project led me to launch my Etsy shop in 2017, my freshman year of college.
College is a brutally transformative time in anyone's life - it's a major change riddled with new responsibilities, new friends, indecision, the highs of newfound independence, the lows of existential dread, and massive questions like, "What do I want to do for the rest of my life?" But the one thing that remained consistent in my college experience was my love of crochet. It grounded me in times when questions of "Who am I?" and "What do I want to do with the rest of my life?" kept me up at night.
Fast forward several years later and I came to the devastating conclusion that my dream job of becoming a veterinarian would go no further than working as a receptionist at an emergency veterinarian's office. Just as before, as we all often do, I found myself in doubt and uncertainty. I had no plan for what came next. I had no idea what I was going to do.
However, I did have a savings account and 15+ years of crochet experience to fall back on. So in a huge leap of faith, I decided to set out on a new goal - to use the skills I'd learned to fill my life and the lives of those around me with beauty and joy.
Over the next year I would go to every market and festival I could find to sell my crochet hats, steering wheel covers, earrings, baby clothing, pet accessories, and home decor. In October of 2022, my Etsy sales exploded with the launch of my glow-in-the-dark skull steering wheel cover. This was just the reassurance I needed that I was headed in the right direction!
I was even given the opportunity to share my love of crochet with children at Career Day at Lingua Academy, where they learned what the word "entrepreneur" means. Seeing how receptive and eager they were to learn brought me back to that day my grandmother and I spent together, and inspired me to craft the mission statement for my small business:
"EndlessYarnSpool is a small business dedicated to making the world a more beautiful place through the creation of handmade crocheted items and the teaching of the art on to anyone willing to learn. Its simple mission is to bring people from all walks of life together and improve the wellbeing of the community through every stitch."
I truly believe in the essential values and health benefits that learning the art of crochet has to offer. Among those values are patience, determination, and self-control - which any crochetier will tell you are incredibly necessary in finishing a project! However, the feelings of empowerment and confidence that come from finishing a project are well worth it. If you made the project for yourself, those positive feelings and emotions come back every time you look at your creation. If you made it for someone else, the constant reminder that they are loved is guaranteed to be the bright spot in their everyday life.
But it doesn't stop there! Included in the mental and physical health benefits of crochet are a heightened sense of self-esteem, stress-relief, mindfulness, dexterity, hand strength, memory, concentration, and hand-eye coordination. Not to mention, "The repetition of the crafts has been shown to release serotonin, a natural anti-depressant." (American Counseling Association)
Hope to see you in one of my classes soon!
Multicolumn
-
Column
Pair text with an image to focus on your chosen product, collection, or blog post. Add details on availability, style, or even provide a review.
-
Column
Pair text with an image to focus on your chosen product, collection, or blog post. Add details on availability, style, or even provide a review.
