Crazy Girl Yarn Shops

01/27/2016

Just finished mittens for Molly in yarn I spun. They're a little irregular, haha, but spinning adds a whole new dimension. Don't look too close because I didn't use a pattern. I just knit and counted and didn't get too hung up on perfection. Loved every stitch. 🤗

01/09/2016

Hello from Asheville, NC! Taking a weekend in the mountains to explore what this beautiful state has to offer. Driving down I was looking at this page and disappointed thinking no one had posted anything after my call out last September (below). I scrolled down to reread what I had written and suddenly noticed there were 36 comments!!! I didn't even know, people had posted comments to MY post rather than start new threads! Duh! Makes perfect sense but I didn't see any notification and had no idea. How wonderful to read through all the memories! Thank you all for your very kind words. I won't miss another! So...quick update. Everything is great here. Loving NC. Was back recently for Molly's Xmas concert but schedule was tight so no time to visit with my knitting buddies. :(. I'll be back in the spring though. I'm still working on mittens that were Xmas presents. I'm spinning the wool so it's a process and I don't have as much time as I used to. Job is going great but takes a lot of my time and energy. Have a new friend and was showing old CG memories to on the ride down. One of my favorite memories is the very first "knit n wines" that we held in the Muscatine store, before I knew enough to put a time limit on it. Those women would keep me knitting until 1 am!! Crazy times. Do you have a favorite CG memory to share?

09/20/2015

Its been over 2 years since Crazy Girl closed and not a day goes by that I don't think about the good times and the friends. I know that some people formed knitting groups afterwards to carry on the friendships but not even sure which, if any of those, are still going. Today I got to thinking, why can't we sort of stay in touch, via this web page? It could be a place to check in with old friends from around the table, couldn't it? I still get alerts that people are looking at the page now and then. Maybe it's just accidental, maybe not. So Here's my first post. If you're out there, post something. Just check in and say hi and what you're doing with your yarn these days. As for me, I live in Raleigh, NC now and I've started spinning again. Here's a photo of what I've been working on. This will become mittens eventually for my unfortunate children that still have to face the Midwest winter. Hoping to hear from some lost friends,

- Leslie (aka Crazy Girl)

07/20/2013

Coralville/Iowa City knitters: A new guild has been formed just for you! Check out our Ravelry page http://www.ravelry.com/groups/prairie-yarn-over. Any and all are welcome!

Ravelry is a community site, an organizational tool, and a yarn & pattern database for knitters and crocheters.

07/15/2013

Crazy Girl's been put to bed,
New adventures lie ahead.
Here I shall no longer tread,
It's all been said,
It's all been said.

The knitting store, at 110 Main Street, went out of business after 10 years, five in it's current Cedar Falls location.

07/09/2013

Posted on behalf of Ellen Holstein:

Okay guys, so I need a plan. Here is what I propose.


I will fill out the application for a local guild chapter for TKGA, maybe calling it Johnson County or Eastern Iowa to make it broader in scope than just Coralville or Iowa City--what do you think? Maybe a name that is not geographic? But what?

Read on, I will provide some data below. But first I want to put my whole proposal (such as it is...please add your input!) out there. For starters, I was thinking to set it up for a once a month meeting (maybe first Sunday of the month from 1-3 pm?) , which could easily be changed to bi-weekly or something if there is good interest. I am going to first try the Coralville Public Library, unless someone has a better idea. I like the location, the parking, and it is close by to a coffee shop and the co-op and other eating places if after the "meeting" (which would be less than 5 minutes business and the rest knitting and socializing perhaps even classes, etc.) any of us wanted to extend our time over a bite to eat or something. I like the idea of a guild which is bigger than a small circle of friends because one of the things I liked about the shop is the whole community of knitters...ideas and people I was exposed to that I would never otherwise have intersected with and also there is always some body there. If the group is too small it will dribble away and too much depends on everyone being there at once. I haven't looked over the application yet, but know you need to idenitfy 6 TKGA members to start a guild. So far I only "know" me as an interested member. I don't have email addresses for Jamie, Vanessa, Laura, Karen, Gabrielle, Thea, Meagan, etc. so please share this info with anyone you can think of or send me email addresses and I will contact them. In any case, as soon as I hear of 6 people who have memberships (cost is $30/yr or $54/ two years and includes a free pattern and subscription to a periodical, among other things) and are willing to be "charter members" of the guild, I will proceed. I am hoping to keep the business part of the guild very simple, but perhaps members could offer classes (I would guess a fee could be assessed for sign-up so individuals could make money on it in return for their efforts) we could certainly do KALs and I notice other guilds do things like connect with preemie project, etc. Janet noticed that the local libraries mention in their policies that while their conference rooms can be reserved no charge by non-profits, they don't do this for recurring meetings. BUT the Des Moines libraries do this! So I was thinking I would make a sales pitch to them, maybe asking whether, if all members had library cards, it would be allowed, or if each time there was a meeting we submitted a short book review of one of their fiber arts related books or media that they could use for their newsletter. I will try to be persuasive and creative as so far it is the best location I can come up with. Why wouldn't they want this associated with their library!

Right now there are four existing guilds in Iowa (Des Moine, Norwalk, Ames, Sioux City, I will list details below), so eastern Iowa is ripe for it's own guild:

Central Iowa Knitters Inc.

Des Moines Iowa
TKGA Guild Since: 1/13/2006
Contact: Cynthia Merrifield
[email protected]
Website: http://www.centraliowaknitters.com



Des Moines Knitting Guild #135

Norwalk Iowa
TKGA Guild Since: 9/18/2003
Contact: Victoria Wickham
[email protected]
Website: http://www.desmoinesknittingguild.com



Heartland Knitters #143

Ames Iowa
TKGA Guild Since: 9/18/2003
Contact: Lisa Grulke
[email protected]



Knit & Rip #139

Sioux City Iowa
TKGA Guild Since: 9/18/2003
Contact: Wanda Meyer
[email protected]





I just subscribed to TKGA last night, and saw the following are Iowa City members, plus there are numerous members from Cedar Rapids and some from Solon, Amana, North Liberty, and Cedar Falls: (I don't recognize these people, below, but you might.)







Blythe Adams

Lisa Case

Marcella David

Jacque McClure

Deanna Nielson

Marilyn C Paetz

Julia Papworth

Carlen Ribble

Maureen Wallace

Wetherill Winder




Please let me know what you think!

07/09/2013

We are working on schemes to keep the best of Crazy Girl alive....the connections we have made. In Cedar Falls the Thursday night KNit and Wine folks will meet at cup of joe at 6. Hopefully to devise a more permanent plan to continue meeting. I am hoping to offer free clinic help at the same time for those of you in a project a little over your head....I don't want to leave you stranded. Coralville Sunday folks are working on a similar plan. If we come up with anything, we will post it here. I will leave this website live so we can all continue to communicate here. Please share you projects and knitting adventures with all of us.

Knit On Crazy Girls! (and boys) :) Leslie

07/09/2013

Today is our last day! Stop in either shop (10-5 in Cedar Falls, 10-6 in Coralville) to use up your gift certificates or just to say goodbye. We'll miss you all! Thanks for all the memories.

07/08/2013

Thanks for all the kind words. We've had a blast over the years! We'll miss you all! Keep on knitting, Crazy Girls!

07/08/2013

We are open 10-5 Cedar Falls today and tomorrow. 10-6 Coralville today and tomorrow. Come use your gift certificates

07/08/2013

The Crazy Girls are closing. We'll be open today and tomorrow for limited hours. Thanks for the memories.