Fiber Field Trip: Hank and Purl's in Rochester

 The weekend before our Christmas travels, Sailor and I went in to Rochester, MN to do some looking around. I already told you loves about the other fun yarn shop we went to and I was planning on writing Hank and Purl's up that same week. Then...we found out some exciting news and everything kind of went nuts. So....here is the slightly belated, but still fun, review of Hank and Purl's Creative Nook and Knittery.

We almost blew right by this little shop. It was tucked back in a little strip mall and our gps was being a royal pain. It told us to get back on the freeway in order to exit on the street we were already on and go to this shop. What the heyhey, Garmin?? Despite the technical difficulties, we found Hank and Purl's.

The shop was tiny, but sooooo well-kept. Everything was organized, all the shelves were labeled, and the place was clean. All important things for me!! Despite the lack of floor space, the shop did not feel cramped. There were a couple chairs for crafting in, and waayyyyy more inventory than I imagined when we walked in. It was all so well organized, they could fit tons of stuff without it feeling crowded. A+ in my book.

We (aka, I) shopped around for quite some time there. Sailor is a very patient man, I tell you. Maybe it was because we just had gotten done shopping at a farm-toy-store that we accidentally found that he was on such good behavior.

 Hank and Purl are the shop's mascots. The owner told me that they dress them up for different seasons. Too fun! Here they are all Christmas'd out. Too cute, right?

Hank, sacrificing some wool so Purl can knit.

Purl, knitting away!

 The owner told us a hilarious story about a small boy who was quite curious about Hank and Purl over the summer. Purl was dressed in a bikini in the front window, and while his mom shopped, the lil fellow decided to take a peek down Purl's bottoms to see what was under them when he thought nobody was looking. But the owner caught him. She said that it was all she could do not to burst out laughing. I don't think I would have not been able to control myself.

On to my haul!!

 While we were in the store, the lady who makes these buttons stopped by. I heard her talking about them and was so excited. Local artist! Woot. Double bonus points for that. So, now I need to make a project to go with the button. Haha.

 Some gift tags by KnitBaaPurl. I still have a few gifts to wrap and these little tags were sooo stinkin' cute, I could not pass them up. I mean, come on! I want a tree like that in real life!! Yarnornaments!! Yornaments? Yarnaments? Yarn.

I have three left still. Gotta stow them away for next year!!

So, yeah. Cool store. It is basically the only yarn store I could find in Rochester itself, so if you are ever in that region, stop by and say hullo to Hank and Purl.

Alright. Time. To. Knit. All. The. Baby. Things. And get ready to make lobster tails for the first time. Happy New Year's Eve!!
Yours enthusiastically,
Carolyn

A Very Last in Line Christmas

My in-law's tree. Note Spock in the lower right.

Making homemade pizza for lunch on Christmas Eve

Sailor, playing pizza chef.

That darling sister-o-mine

Smeesteeerrrrsss

It was so snowy at my parent's house!

Because holidays require board games in my family.

Daddy, making a Prime Rib Roast for dindin

My mom and cousin reading the Christmas story from the bible before our prayer

Dat meat.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning gluten free pancakes by yours truly.

Dat ornament. You know you are jealous of my skillz.

Grandma's Christmas tree

Christmas Lunch at Grandma's

She made me a personal pan of gluten free cheesey tates. Be still, my heart.

The pickle!!

Not only was our holiday full of busy, family joy....but Sailor and I got to announce some thing very very exciting that we learned just before going to visit family....

Our first child. I'm so excited!!!!! It is such an exciting time for us. I'm sure you can expect to be bombarded with craftiness for Baby Z in the near future.

Hope your holiday was beautiful and full of family and love!! And...I hope that you are all recovered from the festivities. Because I'm not. So sleepy!

Yours from the couch,
Carolyn

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Merry Christmas! Enjoy this picture of Arlo taken by my darling sister.

One Week Off

Last in Line Shop will be closed from December 22nd-29th. Additionally, I'm taking the week off from blogging to spend time with my friends and family. Though there may be a couple random .gif posts through this week, don't expect to see much going on here. Have a blessed holiday with those you love. Take pictures! Eat cookies! Savor the season, yo!!

See you all on the 29th!!
Blessings and hugs,
Carolyn

Halfway to Hipster: Meet my Dear Friend

So, I have this friend, right? That's how all cool stories should start.

But for real, I have this friend.

We met during my first year of college, way back in 2010. A bazillion years ago. I had moved all my stuff into my dorm room in the Fine Arts dorm building, and was ready to make friends and break stuff. Because I'm totally bad-a. I was rooming with a friend from high school, and another friend from high school lived across the hall, so I wasn't alone alone. But my across the-hall friend was a music major, so being an art major myself, we had 0 classes together. And my roommate was planning her wedding which was to take place in July, so she was supah busy! I needed some crazy cool peeps to keep me from lighting things on fire/help me light things on fire. I was on the hunt.

In the midst of the craziness of move in, I overheard some girls talking.

"You SHOULD!! You totally SHOUUULLLDD!!"

"I will. Believe me. Imma put pictures of my cat on EVERYONE'S door."


What? These girls sounded fun! But they were gone before I could tackle them and force them to be my friends.

Cue bus ride across campus.

The first weekend of freshman year at our university was filled with meet-and-greets and parades and orientations and free sno cones. Lots of events. One of those events took place all the way across campus. Buses came and pick us up to take us to the far-away-land of the Convocation Center. While we were all on that bus, I heard a girl say, "No for real, I love my cat. I'm going to put pictures of him on everyone's door."

IT WAS HER.

"HEEEYY!!!" I shouted, "YOU LIVE ON MY FLOOORRR!! I heard you guys talking about cat pictures before and hi. I'm Carolyn."

Because that's not creepy.

Which, I guess it wasn't, because we became very good friends.

Her name is Becca and she is a very awesome glittery fun girl. We had many college adventures during my 2.03 years there. All nighters, Snowpocalypse, climbing onto roofs, milkshakes, shammy shakes, weekend brunches, ya know. The normal stuff. She is super smart, super talented, and super crafty. She stood up for me in my wedding, put up with my constant presence in her dorm room and later in her apartment. She allows me to call her Boochacha, BuchaLucha, Bookah Dookah Doray, and all sorts of other ridiculous names. Even in public!

And guess what? She has a really cool blog.

One of her incredible skills in life is the ability to go thrift shopping and find something super ugly and make it super awesome.

Perhaps you are saying, "But, everyone does that now. It's totally mainstream!! There's a song about it!!"

Well, hush your lil mouth, because letmetellyou, this girl goes above and beyond the run-of-the-mill pinterest farm-type "refashionistas." Seriously! Check out her blog: Halfway to Hipster and see for yourself.

Seriously, I love this girl. I am so blessed to have her as my friend. And to have been able to go thrifting with her in real life. And to watch her draw because....my gosh....that girl has mad skills yo.

Such a blessing to have super creative friends.

Do you have some crazy-cool friends?

Gluten Free: Hyvee & Trader Joes

 On Saturday, Sailor and I took a little trip to a couple of towns to check out a couple grocery stores that have bigger gluten free selections than the ones in town here. We went to HyVee and Trader Joe's. I was a little disappointed in HyVee's selection. The HyVee we used to go to before had a huuugggeee selection of health foods and g-free stuffs. The one we went to was a bit lacking in the g-free department, but I was still happy with what I found!!

 My haul at HyVee: three cans of Gluten-Free Cafe soup, Eater's Digest Peppermint Tea, Rice Works brown rice chips, and Angie's Dark Chocolatier Sea Salt Kettle Corn. I forgot to picture the g-free cocoa rice krispies I got as well. Had some of them for breakfast this morning!! Yum-city!!

I could not resist cracking the kettle corn opened. I mean, really. Look at this stuuuffff. And it's certified g-free!! I call that a win. Salty sweety goodness without any fear.

On to Trader Joe's! Neither Sailor nor I had ever been to a Trader Joe's, but I have heard that this is a great place to look for g-free stuffs. And it was indeed that!! I was astounded that their generic brand of almond milk, kefir, and g-free pasta were so much cheaper than what I am used to paying. I am one happy lil Celiac-stricken thug.

Where do you like to shop for gluten free goods?

Yours hungrily,
Carolyn