LANARK — A lot of kids Kaelyn Carstens’ age can’t get enough screen time. Others love sports. And some are just happy to get lost in a book.

But Kaelyn? She’s hooked on something else.

This enterprising Lanark teen loves to crochet, and the 13-year-old Eastland Junior High School eighth-grader has even managed to turn her talents into a way to earn some money, turning her warm and cuddly creations into cold hard cash (and PayPal and Venmo payments, too; a good business has gotta be flexible, after all) with her business, Kaelyn Crochets.

Caterpillars and cats, frogs and dogs, birds and bunnies, and even an octopus — Kaelyn has crafted a whole menagerie of colorful creations in sizes big and small, selling them at regional pop-up, craft, and farmers markets in the area through her budding business, Kaelyn Crochets. You may have seen her out and about, peddling her plush goods: It was the stand stocked with cuddly creations behind a logo that’s as cute as a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. Another familiar sight at Kaelyn’s stands: A lot of smiling faces.

“I like seeing the smiles on people’s faces, like from little kids when they come and see everything,” Kaelyn said. “I think they just like stuffed animals.”

The budding young business girl’s experience has opened Kaelyn’s world, allowing her to meet many new people, customers of all ages — especially young children — who have come to appreciate her work and visit often to see what she’s made.

A lot Kaelyn’s creations fit neatly in the palm of her customer’ hands, but she can make larger members of the animal kingdom too, perfect for kids to cuddle up with at night as they drift asleep. One of her larger projects was an octopus she made earlier this year, with its eight tentacles “longer than my arms,” she said — and she’s got plans for even bigger things in the future, like making a dragon similar to the one she saw recently in the new movie, “How to Train Your Dragon,” a fanciful adventure yarn that spun a tale of dragons and friendship in ancient times.

Helping Kaelyn balance her time between her business and other demands for her time are her parents, Jennifer and Brian Carstens, who also accompany her to markets and shows. They’re not only encouraging their daughter’s creativity, but they’re helping her learn valuable lessons, like honing her sales techniques and building customer relationships — lessons that were put to good use when she set up at the Mount Carroll Farmers Market on July 12 (also her 13th birthday) where several customers wished her Happy Birthday.

“It’s exciting to see her learn business skills, and I’m excited to see where it’s going to go in the future,” Jennifer said. “People have been surprised that someone her age could do that kind of quality of work.”

Crocheting isn’t the only talent at Kaelyn’s fingertips. Before she turned double digits, she enjoyed painting, drawing and making bracelets (she used her artistic talents to design her Kaelyn Crochets logo too, using Canva software). She learned about crocheting when she was 11 and developed her craft by watching online videos. She eventually made her first piece, a small white and teal turtle, with help from Beth Calbreath of College Street Creations in Mount Carroll.

Working with several patterns and developing the dexterity it takes for single- and double-stitching took time for Kaelyn to figure out, but she didn’t let those early challenges slow her down. She picked up speed, and skill, and now her smaller figures take less than a half-hour to make. Bigger projects, such as the octopus she recently sold, took her 10 hours, she said.

“I saw a video online of someone showing what they were making,” Kaelyn said. “It was very difficult. I used to not understand patterns, and now I do. They’re all different. I watch people online and I see what they’re making, and I go and try to make the pattern. Then I add my own touch to it because I like to change up the pattern sometimes.”

Learning how to handle the hooks and yarn isn’t the only skill she’s had to learn. Kaelyn is also learning what it takes to run a business. She buys her own materials and tools, sets her prices, and budgets her earnings accordingly. Owning a car is just a couple of years away for her, and college life won’t be far behind, things she keeps in mind when she’s learning and earning.

“It’s challenging because I just want to spend all of it on clothes,” Kaelyn said, but she’s had good teachers in her parents, who’ve instilled in her the importance of being fiscally responsible. Her parents’ support and encouragement have been a big help on her journey.

“It’s exciting and it’s been a good lesson for her on how to budget,” Jennifer said. “With her earnings, she has to deduct her supplies, she buys all of her own yarn, displays and packaging. She’s learning about sales tax and income tax because she’s set up as a full business. She’s very good about budgeting for her car and college fund, and after that it’s fun money.”

Kaelyn’s patience and perseverance have paid off, and her parents are proud of how far she’s come, even when she hits a snag.

“She’s always been into arts and crafts, and she found something new she wanted to try,” Jennifer said. “It takes a lot of patience. She would have to rip out, start over, rip out start over, until she figured it out. She could have easily given up, but she’s come a long way in the year-and-a-half she’s been doing it.”

She’s also had support from others along the way, selling her creations to friends and family, as well as her teachers who’ve made her works part of their classroom decor and her bus drivers, who’ve heard about what she does.

Ideas for her designs come from a variety of sources, and she can also make custom creations when time allows, like cats and dogs modeled after pictures of people’s pets.

“It can be a challenge because you have to make spots that aren’t already in the pattern,” Kaelyn said, but the end result comes with plenty of rewards. “They’re really excited because it looks like their pet.”

Kaelyn Crochet got its start last summer with her first setup, in Mount Carroll. She started out with simpler pieces with fewer colors — strawberries, blueberries, carrots, eggplants and the like. Today, she’s gone from plants to animals, creations that take more skill with their various anatomies. She’s also branching out, incorporating her pieces into packages, like crochet characters from popular children’s books packaged with the book, and build-your-own aquarium kits that include a fish she makes with a small “aquarium,” rocks and flora. She’s also crocheted catnip balls for customers’ feline friends.

Since her first farmers market she’s set up at other area markets — Dixon, Lake Carroll and Lena — and at special events such as Livengood’s Backroads Barn Sale in Milledgeville, Ensign Jade Acres’ Fall Barn Market in Freeport, and Camanche Days in Camanche, Iowa. She posts her appearances on her Kaelyn Crochets Facebook page.

Kaelyn used her summer vacation to work ahead, already working on her Christmas lineup, which so far includes snowmen, gingerbread, Grinches and reindeer; and who knows what else Santa will bring before all’s said and done? She’s already planning to take her holiday goods to her farthest market yet from home: Sandwich’s Holiday Lane Craft Show in early December.

At just 13, Kaelyn has already come farther than many people her age — and who knows what’s next? In some ways, life is like crocheting: There are patterns to guide us, but we make the journey our own, sometimes challenging but always different.

“There are so many different patterns that you never do the same thing over and over,” she said.

Find Kaelyn Crochets on Facebook to learn more about the Lanark teenager’s unique crochet designs, and where she will sell her products at. Kaelyn can be reached through Facebook Messenger on the page.