Newsletter November 2014: A crocheted cordIn the shop:A beautiful new knitting pattern in the shop: Pop Poppies, a two-coloured knitted tam designed by Sarah Mombert. 
(photo by Sabine Feliciano) It’s a gorgeous project in stranded knitting, worked in the round. I find it to be a wonderful example of how a traditional technique can be used to make a very contemporary project.More information in the shop.On the blog: 
My own Saranac (a knit pattern by designer Kirsten Kapur – I am selling the translation in my French-language shop). Two podcast episodes in French: episode 33 and episode 34.
Aglaé’s Silk Scarf. And a collage of things from my small-scale event in Lyon on November 22—23.Upcoming
From December 1st to Christmas, I will host an advent calendar with a special offer per day. The offers will be posted on the blog under the category dec2014. Do check in every day to see if the offer of the day interests you! EclatDuSoleil is my partner for the special offers, so her patterns will be frequently featured. A new surprise every day! A crocheted cordVery often, a good way to crochet a cord comes in handy. You can use it to close a garment or a bag by threading it through stitches or other openings, as a handle (alone or maybe braided), or as a foundation for a bracelet or a necklace. I am sure you can come up with other situations where you might want to use a crocheted cord. There are many ways to crochet cords, but I think that the one explained here is quite interesting since it’s simple and can be worked to a desired length without any particular planning. It also is very elastic – you could try using it as a foundation chain for a project. This is by no means my own invention. I learned it from Nathalie Mainsant, the designer of the Quimperlé shawl and the OXIXO jacket. She found it somewhere on the Internet, but I haven’t been able to locate the source. If you know of it, please let me know so I can credit the person who put this technique out there. Nathalie’s hands are also featured in the pictures below. She crocheted the cord so I could hold the camera. This cord uses two strands of yarn. In the pictures below, each strand has a different colour for clarity. You can of course make the cord with two strands of the same yarn, for a monochrome result. Make a slip knot with the two strands and place it on the hook. 
Insert your left index finger (if you’re holding the hook with your right hand) between the strands to separate them. 
Insert your hook between the two strands and move it under the strand closer to you, and up. This creates a reverse yarnover with this strand. 
Now do a normal yarnover with the strand further from you. 
Pull this yarnover through all loops on the hook. The next stitch, and all the following ones, goes like this: Reverse yarnover with the strand closer to you. 
Normal yarnover with the strand farther from you. 
Pull through both loops on the hook. 
This is how the finished cord looks from all sides when the two strands are of different colours. 
And this is how it looks when both strands are the same colour. 
As a complement to the photo tutorial, here is the video we made of the technique: See you soon!
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