Needles and a Pen » Knitting, Sewing, and Nursing School

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  • Welcome to my blog!

    Hi! I'm Traci. I'm a Registered Nurse who loves quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and the great outdoors. In my pre-scrubs life, I owned Real Photography, and you can still see my old wedding and portrait photography site here .

    I've created a map that shows links to our camping/hiking/general family fun review posts that you can find here. It's pretty much the coolest thing on this site. Thanks, Google!

    I great big puffy heart *love* comments, so please let me know you visited! I try to always reply!

Monthly Archives: May 2015

linden sweatshirt pattern

My self proclaimed Summer of Knits began this weekend with my very own Linden sweatshirt!  I did a lot of blog reading before starting this one, and chose my fabric based on an instagram post from Film in the Fridge.  Supplies:  Linden sweatshirt pattern, 1.5 yards of Splendid sweatshirt fleece, 2 inches of a knit I […]

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Spruce Mountain Trail Review

Spruce Mountain is another easy family favorite for those days when you want to go for a hike, but you don’t want to put any thought into it.  Fitting in with the other hikes I’ve posted about this week, it’s another hike I feel comfortable doing with the kids by myself on a weekday.  It’s […]

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Teaching Kids to Knit

Ellie’s been asking to sew and knit for…well…as long as she could speak.  She’s five now, and since child labor laws were put in place partly to prevent five year olds from professionally knitting for 12 hours a day, I figured it was time to pour myself a glass a wine, pretend I am patient, […]

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Oliver + S Tea Party Dress Pattern Review

Confession:  I have several Oliver + S patterns that I’ve never used.  I had the best intentions, but after making the Birthday Party dress I kept shying away from them because I realized just how much work these patterns would be!  They are made for people without a serger, so you won’t find any time […]

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Indian Paint Mines Review

The Indian Paint Mines in Calhan is another great walk for beginning hikers.  It consists of a 4 mile network of trails that can be customized to your kiddo’s distance abilities.  It’s another walk I feel comfortable doing on a weekday with just a toddler along.  It’s different from most hikes (although this really shouldn’t […]

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Spring lace: helado hat pattern

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful and it was my recovery day, so Ellie and I spent a goodly part of the early evening on the studio porch finishing my hat and watching the neighbors attempt to bring down a tree branch America’s Funniest Home Videos style. The pattern is Helado by Tanis Gray, and the yarn […]

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