Interview w/ Toni Lipsey of TL Yarn Crafts

you

i am great so excited to have you here

with me today

thank you so excited to be here thanks

for the invitation

oh you are so welcome you are one of our

favorites

and you know for black history month

when i

started in august it was really

important to me that we

highlight people of color um during

black history month and i was like i'm

gonna start with tony

and everybody yes we are

well i am honored i'm so honored to be

to be

helping kick off this campaign and and

so grateful again to be invited

yeah that makes me really happy so it's

a very

informal and fun interview i know you

already did the

uh interview the written interview that

we did and we asked you some really good

questions and you answered them like

i'm like she's just such a vibe you know

i have a

i have a 12 year old daughter and that's

one of her favorite words so

you are such a vibe and we're here

it feels like an especially special

compliment

yeah look you're a vibe and a mood

okay oh a double family okay i'll take

it i'll tell you

what holiday so um when we were like

well we

we know we're going to do the written

interviews but we want to do some live

interviews as well and i was like okay

i'm gonna ask and see what she says and

when you said yes i was just like

of course it's always a yes for me

always that's that's a really good thing

that's a really good thing so we're just

gonna dive in

and introduce yourself to the audience

who i'm sure

already knows who you are but for you

know formalities

i'll let you introduce yourself to the

audience and tell us a little bit about

yourself and then we're going to the

questions if that's cool

perfect okay great um so i am tony the

crochet designer and educator behind tl

yarn crafts

i've been running my business since

2013.

started designing in 2015 quit my day

job in 2017

and now i do crochet designing and

education full time

which is really really exciting and

current obsessions

i would definitely be tunisian crochet

that's like my my number one that's my

heart

and then just anything you can do with

fingering weight yarn i've really been

exploring some lighter weight yarns

lately and that's been really fun

that's really cool so i um

post it on our facebook group uh you

know opens it up so

people can ask you questions and one of

the questions that i got

from kelly hamilton

she wants to say i'm already a huge fan

of tly she's so

talented i'd like to hear about her life

pre-crochet

maven what did she do before she started

her crochet business

and what prompted her to go all in

oh that is a great question i love

diving into that because i don't i don't

really talk much about my life pre-yarn

yeah sometimes i don't feel like i have

a lifestyle

but okay so i'm gonna we'll take it from

uh post college so i went to i went to

college got my undergrad in psychology

got my grad degree in non-profit

management

and when i graduated in 2010 i had the

mentality of

okay we're gonna go find a really good

job

get some really good benefits and we're

gonna work this job until we can retire

and go sit on a beach somewhere that was

that was the mentality that was the idea

um it did not work out that way

uh actually in 2010 it was very hard to

find a job it was it was

extremely difficult just with the

recession happening

fresh out of school not a lot of

experience and i had also moved to a new

state

um it had been my first time in ohio so

i didn't have any contacts here

i didn't have a network so i was really

felt like i was kind of starting from

the bottom

and that's where kind of yarn got

introduced well before it was a business

yarn was just us a hobby it was just

something to pass the time while i was

still looking for work

um so i eventually did find work in a

non-profit organization

i actually worked for a program called

dental options

which i didn't know that this was a

thing but they connect

doctors and dentists with people who

need dental care

because there's a lot of health risks

associated to not taking care of your

teeth

lots of things that can happen with your

organs you can be in immense pain like

there's

and then even outside of that just the

aesthetics of having a beautiful smile

we all want that

so um it was a really great opportunity

to

you know to just feel like i was being

part of the solution

in a in a way that was brand new to me i

absolutely love that job and i did that

for a couple years

eventually got promoted within that

company and worked on a couple other

projects

i eventually moved on and got a job with

our airport

here in town and i was with our with the

recruitment team

in human resources so i always like to

say i was on the fun side of hr i wasn't

firing people i was hiring people so i

absolutely love that

um i am a people person so it's really

fun sitting across

the table with people every day

interviewing them being able to call

them up and be like hey

we got a job for you can you start next

week like i

loved my job i loved the people that i

worked with i love the people that we

hired

and i really liked working with working

at an airport because you got to see

that hustle and bustle of people kind of

coming and going

it was really fun um so it was while i

was working at the airport though

that t.o yarncrafts really started to

take off so this was a night and weekend

type hustle

and eventually you know the designs i

kept cranking out the designs companies

like

furls and many others were like hey girl

we want to work with you

and honestly i just kind of i didn't

want to say no anymore i wanted to say

yes to everything so

you know i kind of made that hard

decision to be like

we're going to give this a go and that's

why i quit back in 2017.

sad journey awesome i mean

just having the knowledge knowing that

this is something that i love

i'm passionate about it although i do

love my nine to five i'm enjoying it i

can see

people i get to engage with people but

this craft

is like my passion right i'm just gonna

do it

you know what what were the hardest

points of making that transition

i think one of the one of the most

immediate hardest points of figuring

that out and whether i was actually

going to do it was saying

do i really want to sacrifice a regular

paycheck do i really want to sacrifice

health benefits

do i want to sacrifice some of the

fringe benefits i get from working at an

airport and then even beyond that some

things that i didn't even

consider at the time were do i want to

sacrifice working in an office with

other people

you know i don't as much as i love what

i do it's

very solitary and i'm a social

person i need people right so that was

that was something that i had to

sacrifice being in an office having

office friends

having somebody to come to my office and

say hey girl you've been working hard

it's 12 o'clock we bout to go eat like

get up

you know i don't have that anymore um so

giving up what felt like you know that

that more standard work environment

for something that's a little bit more

self-driven is something that i had to

consider and it was a tough choice

um also besides that you know i really

did like my job i love my boss

and uh it i don't tell this part of the

story super often but when i put in my

two weeks girl i cried

i cried in my boss's office so i was

like i don't want to go but there's just

there was just no way

to balance it anymore it was it was kind

of all or nothing thing

yeah knowing when to make that

transition

is so key i know that there are a lot of

people you know who especially over the

last year have begun to

make their side hustle their main hustle

you know with all the jobs and

everything closing down

making that transition you know knowing

in your mind okay this is something that

i have to do

um i'm so happy that you were able to

come to that decision

thank you because now definitely say for

anybody who's considering it

i put the decision off as long as

possible like i

wanted to continue to side hustle with

this and build up

some savings build up some status at my

job and

unlike i think some people who go into

their creative pursuits full time i

actually liked my job so it wasn't a

matter of like

yarn is going to save me from a crappy

job this was this was truly

a decision that came down to you know it

was a fork in the road and i had to make

a decision

but for somebody who especially in this

tough time is trying to figure out if

a creative career is a good fit for them

i think it's just important to consider

you know what's going to make you feel

at ease you know are you going to be

able to secure health care

child care are you going to need

transportation

um do you have any kind of safety net do

you have some money saved up or do you

have somewhere you can stay for a while

until you kind of get things going

thinking about that stuff ahead of time

is going to make it a little less

stressful when you finally decide to

quit

i absolutely agree so what did you do

like what kinds of things were you able

to

you know say okay i can do this but i

can't do that like how did you

not having the friends to come over you

know put the hook down girl come on

let's get something to drink

you know how did you find that happy

medium

yeah i think uh well i will i will say

this if i'm being completely honest

because i think people will want that

the first maybe so i quit my job in

september

right and at the time i was still doing

craft shows so i was leading into the

busy holiday season

so from september till about mid-january

i had no life

i had no friends i ain't calling nobody

i didn't talk to nobody

so i was like you know what i just quit

my job and i have about three to four

months

to kind of prove to myself that this was

actually worth it and if i don't make

the money that i'm expecting to over the

next several months

i'm probably going to start looking for

another job so there was this period

right after quitting

where it was just about the work it was

it was about proving to myself that this

was the right decision

but then after that i was trying to

infuse some normalcy

you know trying to figure out what my

actual day-to-day is gonna look like

so that included setting an alarm to

stop and eat lunch

texting my friend in the middle of the

day because that's what i would have

done at my day job anyway

um taking a day off every now and then

you know

taking off a wednesday taking off a

friday because i would do that at my day

job

and just those little things that i

tried to try to transplant from working

outside of the home and bring that in

the home

just to make it feel a little bit like

normal because i will say those first

few months when i was grinding super

hard for the holidays

girl i ain't never been so dehydrated

angry

right tired girl i was all crusty i

wasn't moisturizing like i was supposed

to

i was a mess and a half the only time i

ever put myself together was when i was

about to go sell at a craft show

self-care was not in my vocabulary and

not to say that it should be done that

way

but sometimes that's that's just how it

goes you have these ebbs and flows of

like

super busy work times yeah and then you

can finally take a bit of a break

um but that that first few months after

transitioning to full time was

i mean it was go mode for for months

yeah yeah i'm sure but look at your

anger

i don't know it's only it's only taken

what

four years let's get my stuff together

listen the the key is you got it

together

and you're doing that eventually and we

see you

and i just wanted to make sure that you

knew that we see you and we are so proud

of you

um as a black woman i'm proud of you

as a crafter i'm proud of you as a woman

in general i'm proud of you and i think

that everybody watching can echo that

and say you know yes she's really

done this thing and it's possible and

maybe i can do it too

you know and i think it's really

important that we're able to inspire

others and let them

see being transparent like you were just

now

saying you know self-care just wasn't

happening at that time

i was really grinding i was really

trying to get this stuff done

and with that in mind what were your top

sellers back then like what were you

grinding on

oh my goodness so by the time i actually

quit i i

am proud to say that i had like narrowed

down my booth

everything in my booth was a top seller

okay because because by that time

i had had the i had had the time to do

the trial and error to say okay this

hat style works better than this one so

i'm just gonna

make all the hats in this style in a

bunch of different colors

you know because that's really what made

the difference if that style worked

i would just make it in a bunch of

different colors so somebody likes blue

over

charcoal over a variegated colorway i

got all the options i got everything

um so it really it wasn't so much about

the product and it was more about

the process behind like setting up the

booth and making everything very

shoppable and showing how this piece

over here

matches with this piece so buy them

together instant gift you're good to go

you know the the like selling it at that

point like the product was good to go

and now i had to be you know i had to be

on

i had to be tony the saleswoman in that

moment

um and it worked because i love people

and i've worked in sales jobs before

and i i feel like i know how to

kind of read people and see you like are

they really just

looking around are they just you know

walking the whole show and they might

pick up a hat and keep walking

as opposed to the person who's maybe

come around once or twice already

and they look at that hat already and

let me put out some more of those

before they come back so they're good to

go like just that kind of stuff and you

and you

you learn it with time there's no amount

of blog posts i could have read there's

no amount of people i could have asked

to say

how do i become successful at craft

shows it really just became

showing up figuring out what works and

what doesn't and adjusting

accordingly that was that's really what

it came down to

i feel like you got it i feel like you

know you did yeah

the only thing though and i will i'll

say this and i don't know if

it's because i started craft shows too

late girl i had to quit because i

started having back problems

loading that stuff in and out of

and you never know what kind of venue

you're gonna have we

i did a lot of shows in like these

really beautiful churches

that were built forever ago so they

ain't got no elevators

the stairs are super steep and you and

about 40 other vendors are trying to

load in and out all at the same time and

the basement

yeah it was so many church basements

so many but it just got to be physically

taxing

and that was one of the first pivots

that i made in my business to say okay

as much as i enjoy selling at craft

shows one it's seasonal so

i have about three four months to make

as much money as possible and

that just wasn't sustainable over time

uh two

it's it's tough on my body because not

only was it loading in and out on the

day of the show but i mean it's like the

four or five days leading up to it i got

to make all this stuff

tag it pack it up take it down in my car

all of that it was it was a lot

and then three i i was like there's just

got to be

an easier way to make this money like

um so you know i had gotten into

designing at this point

and once i kind of saw the writing on

the wall that craft shows are not

going to be my forever job i started

ramping up

you know working with companies

designing um doing collaborative as well

as independent projects

and really seeing how much how much of

my

business could become digital and could

become something that i can give people

access to without it taking a toll on my

body right

that was a wonderful segue because

that's what i was going to ask you about

next was designing

how did you get into designing do you

remember the first thing you designed

and like what that

process is because that's my goal for

2021 is to design

something i want to design something i

don't know what it's going to be

but i want to design something put it

out in the universe yeah that's where

um so my very first design was the mega

palm beanie and i love telling the story

because it's just

it's so close to my heart so i was

selling at craft shows everything's

going great and i

wanted like that signature hat at my

booth

and i didn't have it yet and i started

scouring all of the

pattern selling sites etsy rivalry

everything and i just could not find

what i wanted

because it was real specific lists it's

like textured body

thick brim big old pom pom i wanted to

be slouchy i wanted to be unisex i had a

whole lot of

requirements right um so since i

couldn't find what i was looking for i

was like you know

i think maybe i could figure this out

maybe

you know isn't that how people do this

so i

you know i started looking through my my

pattern my stitched dictionaries to

to pick a stitch i started you know

watching youtube videos about different

techniques for brims

i learned how to make pom-poms as

quickly as possible and really full and

beautiful so

i ended up designing the mega pawn

beanie and it and that name took a while

to get there but

that's ultimately what it was so i

started making them for shows

and to encourage people to come to my

shows and buy my product

uh i started sharing about this hat on

instagram

so my message was always i just made

this hat it's gonna be at my booth come

buy it

but people are like i don't want to buy

it i want to make it though how do i do

that and i was like

no no just come by it so

they're starting you buying exactly

that's the transaction okay

but since that wasn't that wasn't the

conversation they wanted to have so it

got me to thinking like

okay well this is something that i that

i made up

and it's not available anywhere else and

if people are saying they want to buy it

like

i guess i could make it available i've

bought patterns before so

i'm sure i can find out how to sell them

and that's uh that's what

started my um my very first

pdf pattern sales and and it really just

kind of took off from there because

people

people loved it people really took to it

and seeing it was the first

opportunity for me to see how somebody's

gonna take a pattern

and put their own stamp on it so like

taking really interesting yarns

um doing it in multiple colors sometimes

leaving the pom-pom on it

making the brim longer or shorter just

like all these little tweaks

that show people's individual

personalities and i had never

seen that before because i was selling a

finished product right so

i was like wow this is actually kind of

cool like this

it actually was much more inspiring to

me

to design something and have somebody

put their own spin on it as opposed to

creating and selling this finished

product i think that also encouraged me

to

come up with more designs and that's

really that was kind of the catalyst

because

it kind of became this kind of cyclical

kind of process like the more i designed

and put it out there the more people

bought it and put their own spin on it

the more inspired i got to make more

things and then it just

it just keeps going and i think i'm

still kind of in that place

because every time especially right now

i'm running a crochet along where people

are

making all these different tl yarn

crafts patterns and there are patterns i

designed years ago

that i haven't really seen anybody make

in a while and people are gravitating

towards those as well and i'm like wow

people actually like my stuff

it's exciting i know that must be an

incredible feeling

you know knowing that people around the

globe

you know you'll never meet some you'll

never meet in person

but they have a piece of you and they're

recreating something that came from your

brain that must be

like the ultimate exciting yeah and it

never gets old

it never gets old like i i and i've told

myself multiple times in my business if

i ever get to a point where

i'm just not inspired to do this anymore

then i just won't like i've always

believed that

people and circumstances all that stuff

happens in seasons

and i'm and i'm here to receive whatever

season i'm in

and since 2017 i have been in the season

of designing and sharing

that art with people and i just continue

to be

inspired by others and in what they do

with the little bit of something that i

put out it's really really exciting

i love it and you are the queen of the

segway girl you just

right on we all together here so my next

question was going to be who are some

other makers that are inspiring to you

like who

are three people that you follow and are

like

oh yeah um wow that's a great question

okay so the very very first person that

comes to mind

is jake from kenyarn i don't know if you

know jake

so jake is based in rhode island

and he's just the sweetest person you'll

you'll ever meet jake is all like

musicals and happiness and fun

and togetherness he's just the best and

jake and i connected

um several years ago at a yarn event

and we've had the opportunity to

collaborate together and do

crochet alongs and patterns together

he's done yarn for me i've

created things out of his patterns and

uh we have this really great

business relationship but he's also

somebody i can reach out to and be like

you know

i'm stuck on this you know can you help

me out he's just in that kind of circle

of trust

of people that have gone from just being

you know maker colleagues to an actual

maker friend so he's awesome

um oh man i just don't want to leave

people out okay

i will say i will say it's not

necessarily a person but

something that's actually been inspiring

me a lot lately is

the pottery community on instagram

okay um and i never really consider like

i

love like handmade mugs and things i

always have something nearby

but i never really considered how

creative somebody can get when they make

a mug by hand

and i think about it like you know

there's probably somebody out there who

doesn't

think well how creative can you get

designing a blanket you know a blanket's

a blanket

right so when i look at pottery hashtags

i'm like

wow that's a really cool design that's a

really cool shape they came up with and

and that

inspires me and drawing inspiration

outside of my niche

is really what i try to go for i try my

best not to look at

trends within the maker community

because it's inevitable that things will

start to look similar

so i try to draw my inspiration outside

of knitting and crochet

so pottery accounts are really really

exciting to watch and i think

one person that i love to follow even

though i'll probably never make her

stuff

is andrea mowry and here

and not my thing i love to crochet and

that's just that's just what it is but

um andrea comes out with just

the most amazingly inventive and

exciting patterns

and to see how engaged her community is

like

she's one of those aspirational kind of

people that i'm like

that's what i'm that's what i'm going

for i'm trying to i'm trying to get to a

point where i put out a pattern and

immediately

200 300 people are making it you know i

want to get to the point where

people like my audience is really

comfortable

coloring outside the lines and and

working with hand-dyed yarns and

working with different fibers and i i

feel like her community like she's

gotten them there

and i'm trying to get mine there like

it's like

that's that's the that's what i'm

shooting for right now i think you're

i think you're getting there i do i

think you're getting there

i mean just looking at your youtube and

looking at

i just recently joined your group on

facebook and i'm like oh these people

are good

and i'm just saying you're motivated

yes i'm like wow they better go ahead um

it's really inspiring i think it's

because of what you're putting out and

what you're you know letting people know

look you can do this

um your youtube videos they're so clean

and clear and concise i was watching one

of your tunisian

videos and i was like oh i can do that

you know

something so thank you thank you for

you know making this community thank you

for

allowing yourself to be vulnerable to

the different ideas and to

reach outside of the maker you know the

fiber makers and

looking at other crafters and other

things that people are doing and

bringing that over to us though

thank you for that i really don't know

my treasure that's

i mean that's what keeps it fun for me

and i think if anything it's

especially mentioned in the facebook

group i've never seen

such a energetic enthusiastic

group of people and and as much as i

would like to take credit i really feel

like i can't i feel like

everybody like that energy just feeds

off of itself and and

everybody who comes in there is like oh

yeah i'm excited i'm

doing this and i'm like all right

like they get me back excited because i

mean i feel like um

i feel like anything that you do for

money is gonna become

work as much as i love what i do it is

work and there are some days and i'm

like oh my gosh

eight hours and write up patterns and

reply to emails

like some days are just not as inspired

as others

but i'm i'm grateful that i can go into

this space

and like soak in a little bit of that

energy because sometimes i need it you

know not

every day is you know big smiles and

excitement

some days it's like i don't want to do

this

and speaking of which when you don't

want to do this or when you're not

crocheting or when you're not

making up patterns what do you do on

your in your free time

like how do you you know what i'm i'm

obsessed with audiobooks

i always love to read but of course

since i'm crocheting all the time i have

not mastered crocheting without looking

at it so

i'm always listening to an audiobook

always listening to music

um my husband and i also have you know

very similar

tastes in in tv and movies i love to

watch movies

okay i love to watch tv shows like

what's your favorite right now

when it first started and uh tiger king

came out girl i took like three days off

i was like

i love it oh my goodness i love it like

that's

that's one of my favorite pastimes is

like watching these shows and movies and

then you know sharing them with others

whenever i watch something really

interesting

read a really good book i always love to

share with others because i want them to

feel

you know what i felt as well so when i

take a break from yarn it's

literally like veg out time nothing

productive

i have no other hobbies i just recently

got into superstore

i don't know how hilarious

is it i've seen like little commercials

and

i've never gotten into it i recommend it

it's hilarious and if you just want to

veg out

half an hour i need a new series i do

yeah check it

out check out superstore check out some

store

um what else i mean what else would you

like to share with us today i mean i

feel like

that you know 2017 and

getting started was really inspiring and

something that people really did want to

know so

i'm glad you were transparent with us

and was able to share that

yeah i think i think if anything i have

this mentality and i know we've all

heard it before but if i can do it

anybody can do it there's no

i don't feel like i have any special

skills

or have been you know i don't feel like

there's anything

that i started with that anybody else

doesn't have access to

you know i read all the blogs i signed

up for all the courses

i you know sent dms and emails to people

that i thought could help me at that

time and thankfully

this maker community is so generous i

mean

just so generous to the point where it's

like

there were things i didn't even think to

ask that you know

people who who had already you know that

were in a place where i felt i was

trying to get to

were happy to share about their

experience and give me tips and advice

and

put me in touch with people that you

know might be able to help i'm grateful

for companies like referrals who

you know gave me a chance and i didn't

have much of a following

i was you know still really just trying

to figure things out

yeah and i think i think you guys were

able to see

the potential which i appreciate and you

guys are great about

you know working with accounts large and

small

and recognizing the people who use your

product and your devoted fans and that

and i was that

for very long time and well before

anybody was sending me any hooks or any

yarn i was

taking all my little coins and open my

up in my tool kits and trying out my

frozen all that good stuff so

i'll definitely say like those first

those first couple years

it was all about just building the

foundation

figuring out what it was that i even

wanted to put out content for

right because at this point it's not

just about the patterns and it very well

could have been but it's

it's about the youtube it's about the

facebook group it's about the

the instagram community it's about you

know going to events and teaching at

online

conferences and there's so many kind of

arms of tl yarn crafts now

and i think the reason i did that was

just just to make sure there was always

some money coming in

i think that's always my fear i know

that's why it's always my fear that

like something's gonna dry up in in over

in between

2017 and now there have been several

ventures that i've entered into

with different companies or things that

i've tried that you know everything's

got its end

so that thing ended and i just got to do

something else

just to make sure make sure i'm always

feeling a little bit secure you know

you never know you never know how things

are going to change you never know

because we certainly didn't see 2020

coming so

you never know and it's good to be

prepared and i'm so glad that you

you know are thinking that way and

forward thinking and again

i love that you said you know yes it's

always yes

you know i'm just hey you never know

where it might be

and to end this off what is your model

that you live by

my motto right now and it just changed

for 2020

my motto for 20 for 2021 is

quality over quantity yes for a very

long time i was like i need to put out

as many patterns

i need to get as many followers like all

of these

very surface level statistics of success

right as as long as i was getting the

highest numbers in all the things

that was success for me but that

definition has now changed

so instead of putting out as many

patterns as possible i want to put out a

few

really really really good patterns like

great patterns

memorable things like this little girl

right here she's so

gorgeous by the way i'm a fan

she cute she can't she

so i really i'm really chasing um

i'm chasing rest right now i want

to make sure that i'm prioritizing

taking care of myself getting rest

staying hydrated

i mean honestly and moisturized and

moisturized girl i'm telling you i

keep so much lotion around me now so

much

just to be ready and and i think you

know and this might be tmi i don't know

but if for anybody else who works from

home

like there are little things that you

have to make time for every day you

gotta make time to brush your teeth

maybe time to shower make time to eat

you know make time to step outside and

get some air and it's these little

things

that over the course of my business i

hadn't made time for

you know there were days where i would

literally wake up and walk

from my bed to my computer sit down and

work and i wouldn't get up until five

o'clock like

there were those days and now i think

and and i'm grateful for the growth teal

yarn crafts has had

to give me the latitude to do this like

i

want i look forward to stepping away

from my computer at four o'clock every

day i look forward to

resting my butt on my favorite spot in

the couch with no yarn in my hands and

just

chilling with my cats and my husband you

know it's those those things and and

that's my motto it's quality over

quality over quantity well i

am glad that you were able to share that

with us

i'm glad that you had time for us today

and we are so excited about your future

share your handles

so that people who i don't know who they

are but people who don't know who you

are

can follow you and like and subscribe

you can share you can find me at tl

yarncrafts on

instagram facebook pinterest and youtube

and i definitely invite everybody

watching to join my facebook group tlyc

makers it's a whole lot of fun

it's a vibe it's working on being a mood

it's a vibe though

it's a lot of baby steps you know

absolutely well tony again thank you so

much

looking forward to your future and

everything that you have in store

and thank you again for working with

throws we absolutely love you

and wish you all the success thank you

thank you for the invitation it was such

a pleasure chatting with you

likewise likewise well we'll talk to you

soon

see you later live bye bye bye

thank you guys so much for joining us

for this interview

i hope you enjoyed it and i hope you

learned something new about tony

please check us out on

www.furrowscrochet.com

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you