We recently connected with Cathy Harkless and have shared our conversation below.

Cathy, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Yhtack In Stitches is pronounced Yah tack in Stitches and is derived from the name Cathy which is spelled backwards and the letter K is added to emphasize that in the needle arts world our primary functions are to tack in stitches for crochet and embroidery products for our clients. Our name is indeed unique and Yhtack in Stitches (Cathy in Stitches) also means laughter to the point that your belly is in stitches. I love to laugh to the point that my belly is sore from my laughter or the laughter of others. This business was born out of a passion for the needle arts and this became a worthwhile endeavor when our products produced emotional reactions from our clients. A prayer shawl that started with a prayer and stitches of beautiful, yummy yarn and provided a emotional and spiritual connection for our clients and their journeys or that baby blanket made with the colors and images that generate feelings of bonding and capture the beginnings of a life full of expectations, joy and excitement. My logic that this business would work was directly driven by my clients and their amazing reaction to our products and the ability to connect family, traditions, generations and heirlooms. We are humbled to have had the pleasure to provide businesses, organizations and groups a platform to market and elevate their visibility of their specific brand, logo or vision. The logic was simply to provide our clients what they wanted or envisioned and then our creative minds bling it up or make it pop! We solved the problem of exceptional personalized, one of a kind products providing the ultimate embroidery experience elevating precious to keepsake or treasure. We create and repurpose family heirlooms defining perfection to our product line. We stitch the footprints and journey of our clients and make history. Our expectation is to mesmerize our clients.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My business start for Yhtack In Stitches in the needle arts industry began from a passion for yarn and the crochet process and exploded when I started embroidery and was able to marry the two passions and create the most amazing combinations for customizing and personalization. Yhtack In Stitches captures memories by providing distinctively branded crochet and embroidery. In the needle arts world our team, creates vibrantly textured, distinctive products for each client. We uniquely create embroidery and crochet keepsakes that captures life’s milestone moments. We strive to be the leader in the needle arts industry specializing in embroidery, crochet and the highest level of customer service.

Yhtack contributes to meeting the needs of our clients by offering the highest quality and services. We create momentos, keepsakes and treasures to capture milestone moments. Our products and services evoke emotional connections for milestones such as births, graduations, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, retirements and life celebrations. Our team creatively constructs the pieces of life’s puzzle and documents a story or journey in stitches. Our team capitalizes on the opportunity to create and brand, increasing visibility and marketability. Our branding team creates the opportunity for families to build generational keepsakes and document milestones of loving connects for family and friends. Our needle art creates a story. We document journeys, adventures and creatively develop memorabilia. We provide passionate visibility to connect passion and heart strings. Our team core activities, products, services and events include customized and standard embroidery of logos, and images, crocheted christening gowns and baby blankets, prayer shawls, standard quilts, and t-shirt quilts, casket covers and specialized gifts for milestone moments, weddings, showers, birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations of life. Our brand delivers customizing, monograms and personalized service for unique collections. We are most proud of our impact as indicted by our client’s emotional reactions, passionate comments, video, raving reviews and priceless testimonials documenting precious moments and milestones. Another indicator we are proud of is the high rate of returning clients and that they tap into our business for every life milestone event.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I worked in a traditional 9-5 career path for a number of years. My last corporate commitment was for 22 year, 4 months and 7 days and I worked part time or when ever the opportunity presented itself on my small business. I did not have the opportunity for a lot of creative time or to consistently work towards a great balance of a healthy lifestyle. My first pivot was to resign from this traditional path and for a very brief period I looked to the corporate and a different path for a fit but never found that fit. I then took this opportunity and started to focus on my business, brainstorming, perfecting and absolutely loving my job, my business. I was really starting to get to know myself because I got the opportunity to peel back all layers. I started walking 7-10 miles a day, Monday – Friday and then my greatest supporter and epic entrepreneur told me to get a personal trainer. This was another pivot completely out of left field and out of the ordinary and the results were amazing, for my mind, body and spirit. My business goals and objectives were identified and my business started to flourish and my epic entrepreneur and I again would constantly brainstorm and we consistently have positive discussions about my business evolving, growing my business and marketing the brand. Another pivot was about six months into the pandemic and I just naturally felt there would be a lull in my business when a neighbor asked if I was making face masks and my answer was no. I love to embroider and crochet and not a huge fan of sewing but will sew just to embroider. Thus for Yhtack came the logo or personalized face masks. I am so thankful, grateful my circle of support that encourage me to jump because I have never looked back and at this point never will. My focus is always evolving on how to make me better, my business the best and my clients the absolute best!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In this journey of life it would seem that I have attempted to always do the right thing and until I started Yhtack in Stitches full time I chose the safest path that was comfortable but my end results were also just comfortable. When you walk out of the comfort zone and off the cliff then you really start to experience life and it is the most uplifting experience. In this life, I love my family, I love to crochet, embroider, walk and workout and each morning I love to start my day walking and working out ending my day in my studio with a crochet project or embroidering for our amazing clients. I get to start my day working on me and my journey to a healthy, happy and balanced lifestyle and I am resilient because of the start of my days and the resilience flows over into my business and provides the most amazing boost of creative energy in my business and positive vibes in my business space. The creativity abundantly overflows. I will never stop or give up because it feels good to generate ideas and the end results are not just comfortable, they are amazing, eye popping, dazzling and mesmerizing. There is a connection with our clients. It feels amazing to rise up in the morning with a full agenda , schedule and appointments all geared towards making a better me and giving the best to my client base. It has been amazing to have a balanced healthy lifestyle at the beginning and the end of the day. Balancing the mind, the body and the spirit promotes a resilient, positive mind set that delivers the message to rise above any and all obstacles successfully.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yhtack.com
• Instagram: Yhtack
• Facebook: Yh Tack In Stitches
• Linkedin: Cathy Harkless

Image Credits
Finch Photography Jeanine Finch