Crazy Girl Yarn Shop Closes Its Doors in Cedar Falls and Coralville

Leslie Matheson struggled to hold back tears Tuesday as she officially closed Crazy Girl Yarn Shop for the last time.

The knitting store, at 110 Main Street, went out of business July 9 after 10 years, five in it's current Cedar Falls location. A Coralville location, at 1150 Fifth St. since 2007, has also closed. The original Muscatine location closed in 2008.

Matheson, who said she poured her life savings into the store, said business had dropped by half in the last year. Knitting is still gaining in popularity, she said, but she blames the loss of business on the growing ease of ordering yarn online.

That's not to say she didn't have a loyal customer base in Eastern Iowa.

"I've gotten hundreds of emails and Facebook messages the last few days," she said. "It's more than just the loss of a yarn shop. It's the community, it's the friends."

She won't be saying goodbye to that community entirely. She hopes to keep one popular feature of Crazy Girl going - knit and wine night. A permanent time and location is still in the works, but anyone interested can still get in touch with her via the Crazy Girl Yarn Shop Facebook page or through email at crazygirliowa@gmail.com.

She and a few others are also working on starting a local chapter of the The Knitting Guild of America.

"We want people interested in knitting to still be able to find us," she said.

What else is next for her? Her background is in engineering, so she said she'll likely go back to that. But she said knitting remains her passion.

"It's heartbreaking," she said. "It's like my child. Today has been like a funeral."