Over on Ravelry there is a an American Girl Group. We are doing a Knit Along (KAL). The pattern chosen is This dress above.

It has several pieces to the pattern. I have started on the dress first. I love the pattern at the bottom of the dress. I am using Knit Picks Pallet Yarn. I also decided to do beads for the center of the flowers, just for fun. I also wanted to try this technique I read about for placing beads in your knitting just where you want them. You also don't have to thread them on the yarn prior to starting to knit. You knit the stitch you are going to place the bead on and then slip the loop up the center of the bead and then place the loop back on the right hand needle, because you have already knit it. Now I used beads that the centers were to small to thread the loop through. So I used a very small crochet hook, that would easily go through the center of the bead and pulled the loop through. It looks great, I think!

I have taught myself to knit with either hand. This was suggested by none other than Elizabeth Zimmerman in her book Knitting work Shop. I also have the Companion DVD. I have been working on training myself as I do those modern baby blankets. It has take sometime to become comfortable with it. It sure does make fair Isle knitting so easy. Elizabeth Zimmerman said it is worth the time to learn this and she, of course is right!
~Julie