Persis Yoder creates business

ETHAN KEATING staff writer

Wooster resident, Persis Yoder was taught the basics of crocheting by their mom when they were little, but they did not start to take it up seriously until last summer.

good, the yarn is soft and it is put together very nicely,” LoGiudice said.

Stella Powers (12) received a dinosaur for Christmas this year.

woman in her own right. But her strong personality and thenshocking single-woman lifestyle became great fodder for gossip and high society magazines.”

Alice did eventually marry Republican Senator Nicholas Longworth and went on to become an important figure in the women’s suffrage movement.

Laurie Todd-Smith, the director of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for Education, states in her article, “Celebrating Women’s History Month through the Accomplishments of Women”, “Through her campaigning and official diplomatic missions on behalf of her father, President Theodore Roosevelt, Alice created a model for women to engage in politics energetically.”

MICRO-FOCUS

“It started with just making little octopi as a hobby for my mental health, but I ended up selling a lot at my mom’s workplace for a donation,” Yoder said . Yoder, who prefers to go by gender-neutral pronouns, then donated all the proceeds from that sale to the Wayne County Humane Society.

Later in the fall, Yoder started crocheting dinosaur plushies and selling them. The cost of the dinosaur plushies ranges from $45 to $55 depending on the size due to the time intensity and expensive materials it takes to create the plushies. Yoder also started making bumblebee plushies, which sells for $25.

The process of making the plushies, especially the dinosaurs, is a time-intensive process.

“I have to crochet all the individual pieces and limbs and then put it together. The whole process takes me about five hours for one dino,” Yoder said.

Hannah LoGiudice (12) purchased a medium dinosaur.

“The quality of the product is very

“I definitely recommend that others buy one. They’re super soft and cute, and a great gift for pretty much anyone who loves stuffed animals or dinosaurs,” Powers said.

In addition to crocheting, Yoder also has been a dancer for many years and for the past several years has been doing theater, including playing Ethyl Savage in the 2022 WHS Drama Club production of The Curious Savage. This fall Yoder plans on attending college for theater and dance somewhere in Ohio.

Yoder loves art for several reasons. First, they simply love making people happy.

“The joy I see in people receiving my plushies is unlike anything else, it’s incredibly rewarding to know something I make can impact someone so positively,” Yoder said.

Additionally, Yoder loves the use of expression.

“There’s so many ways to express different emotions, feelings, and situations through art, and can be interpreted in so many different ways, making it relatable to many different people,” Yoder said.

The plushies are made to order and orders can be placed, via Instagram, at @july_ky_ .