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

Bullion stitch cushion..FO

I love it! Finally, I can sit comfortably on my wooden chair.

Now the problem is that it's too cute to sit on . :D

Bullion cushion..adding back side

This poor little thing was sitting in my UFO box for an year and half.

I actually don't own the pattern book, but I memorized only the front, standing at a bookstore when I was visiting Tokyo, because it was a very simple pattern. I didn't know how they finished the back on the book.

The reason why it has been an UFO for so long even though the front was all done is that I was disappointed how the front part turned out. Each bullion was not popping out like the one one the picture of the book, rather it was so flat. Also I couldn't make the sts between the bullions tight like the one in the picture. So I tossed the UFO in the box and forgot about it for long.

Then it showed up when I was organizing my yarn stash couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday, I was looking at the UFO, an idea suddenly came up in my head that adding back made of sc and dc might solve all the issues.

I tested on one bullion. That was right! It was not the pattern's fault! It was mine! Adding the back made the bullions pop out and the gap between each bullion became tight as the FO in the picture!

I was so excited and finished up in a few hours!

Here are some progress shots of how I finished up the back

I simply replaced the coil sts of the front with DC (TC in British crochet terms), and I picked the sts on the edge of the front side as I DC around.

I love how it pops out after adding the back.

If you compare the front two which have back and the ones behind without back, you will see the difference.

My version of Babystøvler

I made these shoes as my friend's baby shower gift based on the pictures of FO's and the progress shots on Ravelry, since I couldn't get the original pattern anywhere.

After finishing this project, I found that I made a little less numbers of ridges at the toe than the original, but I like it as is.

Download the pattern in PDF format

Here is how I made my version of Babystøvler;

• Yarn: DK / 8 ply weight yarn in 2 different colors
• Needle: US5/ 3.75mm or size to get the gauge
• Gauge: 6sts x 12rows (1”sq) in garter st
• Finished size: New born size / 3.5 inches measured at seam of the sole

Instructions
With main color, CO21sts.

Work 26 rows in garter st.

1st decrease row: k1, ssk, k to the end of the row
2nd decrease row: k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1.
Rep the two dec rows once more, and 1st dec row one more time. (16sts left)

1st increase row: k to last 1 st, m1, k1.
2nd increase row: k1, m1, k to the end of the row
Rep the two inc rows once more, and 1st inc row one more time. (21sts left)

Work 25 rows in garter st.

Next row: BO 9sts, k to the end of the row.

TOE SECTION
With contrasting color, work 4 rows in st st.
With main color, work 4 rows in rev st st.
Rep these 8 rows 3 more times, and work the 4 rows of st st in contrasting colors once more.

This is how it should look like from the wrong side when it's done knitting.

Fold it where the lines are drawn.

Graft stitches on the needle and the cast-on edge using kitchener stitch technique.

Then you will have something like this.

Sew the top edge of toe part using running stitch.

Pull the stitch tight to gather the top edge.

Sew the bottom edge of the toe part same way.

Graft the bottom edge of the bootie. Sew half stitch from each side to make the seam allowance as narrow as possible.

Sew couple of stitches at the bottom of the opening to make the ankle part stand up better.

Now you are done! :) Repeat the other side and admire the cuteness!

* Please use this pattern for personal / non-profit use only. You may use this pattern for charity knitting or to make projects for charity fundraising. Please do not post this pattern anywhere else without permission. Thanks.* 

Barely a Clapotis!

• Needle: US 8 / 5.0 mm
• Yarn: Reynolds Soft Sea Wool 3 skeins (486.0 yds)

I started this with only 3 skeins of Reynold’s Soft Sea Wool I had in my stash. I did some research and found handy 1/5 rules of Clapotis. I blindly followed and the rule, thinking I would have a clap-o-scarf(I made up that name :P).

By the time I finished knitting 2 skeins, I realized that my clapotis wouldl be too short! I didn’t think it through that the original clapotis was a SHAWL, which meant the ratio of the width to the length would be bigger than a scarf! :(

Since I overdyed light blue yarn into lavender with KoolAid, there was no way I could get more of the same colored yarn! I considered many different options to solve the issue, such as buying more Soft Sea Wool in a different color and connecting by alternating the two colors as if I intentionally put stripes. However, another problem I ran into was that I couldn’t easily find more of Soft Sea Wool in the LYS close to my office or home (I bought them at The Yarn Connection right before they closed the store.)
Totally frogging and starting it over with a different yarn was not an option for me. Though I love wearing simple designs, I hate knitting one. It’s unbearable to me! Still I wanted to have a clapotis so bad!

So I kept on knitting, hoping that wet blocking will make it a little bit longer…and it worked like a magic! Even though it’s a little bit shorter that I initially hoped for, it’s still a wearable clapotis!
I’m so glad to be a proud owner of a clapotis! :D

The mods that I did other than making it smaller were purling sts that would be dropped instead of using stitch markers, and purling the sts tbl on the WS if it was k tbl on the RS.

Projects from the Past : TEMPTATION

• Finished: July 2005
  
  
• Winner of the ATEXINC Excellence in Marketable Textile Design award given by The International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Design Exhibition, 2005
  
  
• Material: 100% Silk Charmeuse (skirt)/ 100% Silk Habotai (bodice)

This is a digitally designed and printed dress. I made this when I was in the master's course. The printing pattern was designed by myself. Part of the famous painting "Adam and Eve" by Albrecht Dürer was incorporated into the pattern with other elements I drew with Adobe illustrator. After that the it was printed on pre-treated silk charmeuse and silk habotai using a large fabric printer.

Using the digital design, complicated designs can be placed on seam and still be continuous across the seamlines. (I was going blind to match the patterns when I sewed them together, though.)

Projects from the Past : BLOSSOM

• Finished: November 2004
  
  
• Material: 100% Silk Double Georgette
  
  
• The zipper is hidden under the curvy seam at the back

Some progress shots..

• Draping the pattern

• Muslin fitting

My DIY wedding dress!

Yes, you heard it. I made my own wedding dress, and successfully got married in April 25 in it! :D

I wanted to post the process on my blog, but I didn't have a time to write a post back then, and worried that I might not be able to finish up the dress as I planned.

It took me about a month (more accurately, about 4 hours per day for a month, because I have a full-time job!), about 13 yds of silk taffeta, 12 yds of silk organza, 6 yds of polyester lining and so many other notions.

I really wanted to make it look like it was professionally made. However, while I was doing the research on the materials - especially what kind of interlining and underlining I should use, I found that there is not much of information on the Internet.

I read many different books and Internet articles about the formal silk gown construction, but it was not enough. Luckily, I have a friend who is a vice-president of a high-end designer wedding dress production company and was able to get a lot of advise ( and most of materials as a gift!!!! :D) from her.

I tried to take pictures of each design and construction stage, so that it may help other bride-to-be who wants to make her own wedding gown.

In near future, I'll start posting tutorials on it.

(First I need to take more detailed picture of my dress, when the renovation on my apartment is done. Please bear with me in the mean time.)

No further explanation, here I present the pictures...

Ahhhh~why didn't anybody tell me that I was wearing the petticoat so short!! It ruined the silhouette! :( I was actully wearing the petticoat with the waist band rolled up, thinking it was too long..


The back drape(?) part is detachable, and the skirt can be bustled up for the reception like below.

My sister made me the veil and the feather accessory at the back of my waist.

The bodice part has asymmetric pleats..

How do you like it?