Molly, owner of The Knotty Goat, has been crocheting and knitting since the beginning of time.  There aren’t too many places you will see Molly without her stitching.  It is her passion to create with her hands using beautiful textures of fiber.  But the craft of knitting and crocheting isn’t the only thing that brings Molly joy; it is the diverse community of creators she gets to be part of. 

Molly had long dreamed of having a yarn shop of her own, everywhere she traveled she’d pop into local yarn shops soaking up the beautiful atmosphere of color and collaboration. Of course, that’s where she wanted to be, those were “her” people, they spoke her language, it’s no wonder she wanted her own shop.  Vickie, the owner of Castaway Yarn Shop is a very close friend of Molly’s and when the opportunity presented itself for her to buy Castaway, with her family and friend’s encouragement, she took the leap. 

Mary is a retired nurse who spent most of her career in Emergency Care.  She has been knitting for 12 years and many of our store samples are hers.  You will recognize Mary by her beautiful shoulder length silver hair. She is energetic and works hard to keep our yarn stock organized, fluffed and current. Mary enjoys helping knitters and crocheters with patterns and yarns.  Pairing colors is one of Mary’s many talents, as she is one of our primary kit makers and can help you find the perfect pairings between patterns, color and fiber.  Mary feels like she is living a dreamlife working with a wonderful community of knitters and crocheters surrounded by lots of lucious fibers.

Kendra, learned to crochet and embroider before she learned to knit, but knitting has become what she enjoys most. During her life she has dabbled in almost every kind of handcraft including painting, tin work, minor woodworking, rug hooking, needlepoint and glass work. It never failed that no matter what caught Kendra’s interest, knitting is what she always returned to. One of Kendra’s gifts is problem-solving, not only in fixing knitting and crocheting mistakes, but finding ways that help our little shop run efficiently and smoothly. Kendra says that working with customers, staff and yarn brings her great satisfaction. An interesting fact about Kendra is at age 18 her first real job was working in a yarn shop so you can say she has come full circle.

Molly G. has lived in five different countries; Brunei, England, Dubai, Canada and the US.  She moved to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri, where she competed on the collegiate swim team for five years.  Molly earned her undergraduate degree in Health Science and a master’s degree in special education. Inspired and encouraged by an elementary school teacher Molly has always loved the arts.  Although she never pursued an Art degree, she still enjoys crafts in her free time. Molly’s grandmother taught her how to knit however it was not until last year Molly and her mother picked knitting up again and have been obsessed ever since. After adding embroidery to her repertoire during Covid, she would love to take a class at the Royal School of Needlework! She love’s the community at The Knotty Goat and is excited to be a part of the family.

Sadie is a graduate student at Mizzou studying physics. She is easily recognizable by her fun-colored hair and awesome hand stitched sweaters.  Sadie began crocheting in 2021 because she wanted to make blankets, but then in 2023 Sadie started knitting, why? because she wanted to make sweaters.

Sadie loves to share her ideas about projects, patterns and yarn, and she really gets excited when you share your projects with her. Sadie is an encourager which makes her a perfect fit for leading KAL’s and CAL’s, and helping you match your pattern with the perfect fiber. Besides being a grad student and working at The Knotty Goat; Sadie is a test-knitter for several knitwear designers.

At an early age, Susan Gemming learned from her grandmother to knit, crochet, embroidery and needlepoint. She has tried many different crafts over the years and has even had her own craft business.  Susan is a retired elementary teacher and mother to 3 adult children.  Recently, Susan has returned to knitting and making scarves and afghans for her grandchildren has been her focus. She enjoys the friendships she has made through her weekly stitch group. Susan keeps busy with her five grandchildren and is sharing her love of crafts with them.  In her spare time, Susan and her husband Craig enjoy traveling and camping in the National parks and wherever nature takes them.  Of course, her knitting bag accompanies her.