Vogue Knitting Lace Shrug

A couple of my friends got married last summer in Korea, and had a wedding reception for the friends and guests who couldn't be there for their wedding after returning to New Jersey.
It was held in this beautiful place called Tide Estate. I loved the building , especially the chandeliers.

It was late September, so I needed something to cover my cold shoulders and arms when I wore a halter neck dress.


I heard initially this pattern had serious errata, but now everything is rewritten and corrected.
I started knitting this 5 days before the reception date, and was able to finish it on time. I only knitted it after work in the evening and it’s such a quick knit with a satisfying result.

Refering other knitters' notes on Ravelry, I used size 9 & 10 needles, and added 2 more repeats to make the sleeves longer.

Somehow the back part turn out to be a little bit loose...

Also I knitted 11 rows for the trims to make the collar stand higher and cover the armpits better, and I like how it turned out.

Leafy Cardi (a.k.a. Forest Cardi)

This design was my first magazine published pattern and I’m very disappointed at the editing of Yarn Forward magazine.

I initially made this pattern in a big chart format. If they had asked me to edit it into a pattern with stitch by stitch instructions to fit their format, I could have done it. However, I was very busy at that time, and YF said their tech editors could change the format, so I sent the pattern as it was. It was last February, and YF took 5 months to grade and edit the pattern.

Even after taking that long, there were so many editing mistakes. I understand editing somebody else's pattern is not easy. However, most of the errata are very basic errors, which could have been found if anybody proof read once.
They even put a completely wrong chart for the collar part.
I reported this issue to YF on Oct. 2, and I only got an answer that the tech editor is on vacation for 2 weeks, and the correct chart is not even on the errata page yet.
Until they post it on their errata page, I’ll leave the correct collar chart on my flickr.
If you are making it, please click this link and download the correct collar chart.

I give standing ovation to Carli, who found most of the errata and managed to make an FO with that pattern! If anyone is making this, please read Carli’s note at “http://www.ravelry.com/projects/btrflyundone/leafy-cardi”

I can’t wait to have the copyright back in 4 and half months, and rewrite the whole thing and publish the pattern myself…
I'm thinking about adding variations on collar part when I sell the pattern.

Chapchae!! Yum!

Ok, here goes the recipe of Chapchae. (I don't have a picture at the moment.)
There are some different ways to make chapchae, and this is how I make it.
Please note that the amount of the beef and vegetables is always “as much as you want” LOL , and below is my recommendation.
Also you can add or remove the optional ingredients you like or hate.

Ingredients:

• Vermicelli noodles 8oz (220g) (you don’t need a scale for this. You can estimate by the wt on the package)
• Sauce – soy sauce 4 Tbsp, brown sugar 2.5 Tbsp, Mirin(sweet rice wine for cooking: optional) 1Tbsp, salt 1 Tbsp, 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic, little bit of ground black pepper.
• Sesame oil 2 Tbsp
• Sesame seed to sprinkle on top
• Beef about half a pound?
• Half ~1 sweet onion
• Scallions about 1 stalk
• Oyster mushrooms
• Optional vegetables - Spinach, carrots, bell peppers, & etc.
• Pinch of salt
  
  1. Mix the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl – set aside.
  
  2. Slice beef and vegetables into strips
  Stir-fry beef with a pinch of salt and set aside.
  Stir-fry veggies with some vegetable oil, adding the ones takes long to be done first. You can also sprinkle a pinch of salt as you do this.
  
  3. Boil water and cook noodles in boiling water as instructed on the package. (Some people soak the noodle in hot water for about 10~20 min before boiling them. It helps the noodles become soft and easier to put them in a smaller pot with less boiling water. But I just boiled enough water to cover the stiff noodles in a large pot and boiled them 7min. In case you are pre-soaking the noodle, the boiling time should be reduced to about 4min.)
  
  4. Rinse the noodles in a strainer under cold running water. Rinse them thoroughly until they become cold and drain water.
  
  5. Place the rinsed noodles in a large skillet or wok, and mix them with the veggies, beef and the sauce. Once it’s mixed well, put it on the heat and stir fry about 3min or until it’s fully heated.
  
  6. Right before you turn the heat off, put the sesame oil in and stir.
  
  7. Put chapchae on a serving plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  
  
  ** Tip: When I make this for a crowd (about 2~3 times or more of this recipe), after #4, I mix the noodles, veggies, and sauce in a large bowl and then stir-fry little by little. Otherwise, it gets very hard to mix everything well. :)
  
  Good luck making chapchae everybody! :D