As the plush yarn coils seamlessly around her crochet hook, sophomore Katie Yang swiftly navigates the tip through the intricate looped pattern, finding comfort in each intertwining stitch. After years of practicing the therapeutic hobby, she has piles of finished products, each holding hours of tireless work. What started off as a soothing pastime has now become her very own business — one she calls Kebub Shop.
It wasn’t always this way for her. Crocheting, which involves using a hooked needle to create shapes of fabric by interlooping yarn or thread, was first introduced to Yang as a child, as she watched her mother attempt to make crochet animals for the family. However, one particular factor drew Yang to crocheting.
“When I was younger, (my mother) tried very hard to learn how to crochet so she could make things for me and my brothers, but no matter how much effort she put in, it never quite worked out,” she said.
Seeing the countless hours her mother spent watching YouTube tutorials end in vain evoked a sense of empathy in Yang.
“I could tell it made her feel bad, so as I got older, I decided to teach myself how to crochet instead — so I could create things for her,” Yang said.
Yang picked up the craft from scouring the internet for various tutorials to studying general trends for creating different shapes; then, after crocheting for fun in the days leading up to Mother’s Day, she realized the craft was both a convenient tool create a gift, and one that would allow her to express her artistic creativity.
About a year ago, Yang decided to start a small business, building on her success with making yarn animals for her family.
Partnering with Ellie Shen, a former SHS student who now goes to Stanford Online High, Yang designed their website using Squarespace, following designs that make products simple and convenient to access. After both crocheting products for about a month, they decided to start with selling yarn birds, but soon grew their repertoire to cover more types of animals.
All that was left was to decide the name of the business. Using both of their first name initials as the first two letters of the name, their “kebub” was ready to launch.
By late September, it was up and running. The business received attention both on social and at school.
“There was a lot of excitement on the launch day of our business, and while we didn’t immediately get orders, they did gradually roll in,” Yang said. “Even though people knew they wanted to buy something, they didn’t know which one to buy, so that delayed the orders.”.
The business is off to what she sees as a strong start. Yang noted how even though there aren’t many orders, many of them have come in large quantities. This keeps her busy with completing them.
Still, running the business is no easy work for Yang. Alongside an increased school workload of sophomore year, the process to starting the business was a journey itself. Yang spent nearly two months over the summer to set up their website, advertise and build a stock of items to sell. She also noted spreading word of the company took great effort, as she established relationships with other crocheters on Instagram.
“Reaching out to other crocheters was really nice and important, because it felt like joining a community in which people always supported you. Even if the business had not not taken off, I would have still known that these people were there to give me tips and experience,” Yang said.
She also asked sophomore David Huan to make a promotional video, which eventually amassed 2,412 views on Instagram. Capturing a montage of crocheting clips edited and uploaded within a span of two days, the video gained 81.8% viewership from people outside of school and familial ties.
During the school year, however, Yang struggles the most to run her business, as schedules get busier by the day.
“A major difficulty was that crocheting took up a lot of my time, on top of managing the website, social media and tracking statistics,” Yang said. “Juggling all of that while keeping up with school, robotics and everyday life was difficult, so I had to develop strong time management skills to keep everything running smoothly.”.
One of the opportunities that contributed to the business’s successful launch was the opportunity to sell products at a market-style event called SMASH, a robotics event hosted by the school’s MSET Cuttlefish robotics team, where kids visit the school to watch a machine smash and compost their pumpkins, after Halloween.
“We were able to hold a table there that day to sell our products — and that day alone, we completely sold out,” she said. “There were kids begging their parents to let them buy an animal, and that was flattering for me, boosting my morale knowing that children were eager to purchase my work.”
Throughout the ups and downs of running her business, Yang has seen tremendous growth in herself as a business owner, learning how to deal with all aspects such as the pressure of demand and managing statistics. She feels has gained a great sense of responsibility, success and joy, through giving back to the community and overcoming obstacles of a small business owner. The experience has taught her how valuable in-person markets can be; since then, not only has she received more orders, but positive word of mouth has also spread, including those on website reviews.
Crocheting remains a focus of Yang’s free hours, often serving as a break amid academic pressures.
Said Yang, “There’s no wrong path to crocheting: It’s like making music. In essence, creating designs and expressions by how you feel is the most liberating and artistic feeling. I’ve learned to cherish the mistakes in the craft, because, who knows? It might open up to unexpected creativity and new possibilities.”
