Misti Alpaca Chunky and Silver Pebble Giveaway

Posted on Posted in Yarns
The return of Autumn has us looking forward to being able to cosy up under a blanket and enjoy the comfort of catching up on a knitting or crochet project.
This post we’re spending some time with crafter Emma Mitchell who thought exactly that. Emma is sharing the story of her beautiful granny square blanket, here with us at Loop Knit Lounge, and also on her inspiring blog Silver Pebble.
Slow crochet by Emma Mitchell
To celebrate these blogposts, Loop and Emma will be holding a giveaway where you can win a voucher for £25 to spend on whatever your heart desires at Loop! Find out more at the end of the post.

Emma has crocheted her blanket using Misti Alpaca Chunky Handpaint, a favourite of ours, and many others who visit Loop! Buttery soft with a huge range of colours, this yarn is delight to work with and knit (or crochet) up into scarves, cowls and blankets. Shown below are some of our favourites, the Grant Scarf and Snowdon Blanket, both from Juju’s Loops and our free pattern for an easy Misti Chunky Cowl
So, without further ado it’s over to Emma to tell us more about her project
When I learned to crochet some three years ago I dreamed of blankets-huge ones to swaddle myself in and fall asleep under on a cold winter’s afternoon, blankets I had made myself over many months and that one day I would perhaps give to my daughters when they left home. Woolly heirlooms.
My first projects were modest and small: a coaster or two and a simple cowl for my smallest daughter. As my confidence grew I made the ubiquitous south bay shawlette and a baby guinea pig designed by Kati Galusz who starred in her own Vine and whom I named Delia Sniff. I was nearly defeated by Delia’s amigurumi sit-me-down but I hooked on.
Misty Alpaca Chunky in CP58 Sky Gray, image courtesy of Emma Mitchell.
Misty Alpaca Chunky in CP58 Sky Gray, image courtesy of Emma Mitchell.
The idea of a blanket rumbled and simmered. I feared my craft attention span may be too short to complete such a long term, large crochet project. I worried I may begin with good intentions and abandon the woolly ship when it was no bigger than a placemat – that it might languish forlornly in my workbasket.
To guard against the risk of technical trickiness cooling my blanketty fire I decided upon a single  enormous Granny square: simple, reassuring and, hopefully big enough for a 5′ 11″ woman to nestle beneath whilst eating a slab of cake. Then came the yarn decision. As my initial enthusiam waned I needed a backup factor to replace it. I reasoned that if my yarn with thick and voluptuous then my blanket would grow quickly and the excitement of seeing it expand significantly with each row would prevent tragic blanket neglect.

Slow Crochet with Misty Alpaca Chunky in CP58 Sky Gray, image courtesy of Emma Mitchell.
Slow Crochet with Misty Alpaca Chunky in CP58 Sky Gray, image courtesy of Emma Mitchell.
I had a meeting in London and found myself in Camden Passage. Loop beckoned. Oh though, the yarn-filled shelves held almost too much choice. I plunged my hand into cube after cube of delicious fibres. I gathered my thoughts and focussed on the chunky options. The jewel-like shades and gossamer softness of Misti Alpaca Handpaint was hard to ignore. Skein after skein the colours of bluebells, faberge eggs, wintry lakes and then I spotted ‘sky grey’, like a watercolour of a Norfolk beach. Two skeins of this exquisitely soft painterly yarn came home with me.

Misti Alpaca Chunky Handpaint - New Colours!
Misti Alpaca Chunky Handpaint – New Colours!
The granny square began to grow quickly and my fear of stitchy boredom was unfounded as the colour of the yarn shifted subtly with each stitch, from white, through aquamarine, cyan, grey and mossy green and back to white again. I hared through those first two skeins and my outsized granny square came to a halt. I yearned for more but decided to draw out the delicious process of making this blanket. I asked for a skein or two at Christmas and birthdays. I would buy one as a treat when we went on holiday, returning to Loop each time I was in London. The blanket grew steadily and I savoured every handpainted stitch.
My blanket has been growing for over a year and is not yet done. This may seem strange – there is usually guilt associated with unfinished objects but for me the end of yarn trailing from it holds the promise of more making joy, more beautiful stitches in the colours of sea and sky and rock. In fact, despite the prospect of a deliciously thick, kitten-soft textile to swaddle myself in once it’s done, I’ll mourn the completion of this blanket slightly – I’ll miss the sight of the yarn being looped steadily into clusters and each cluster into smallish duckegg blue bricks in the wall of the granny square. I’ll miss each movement of my hook and each time I wind a skein around my thumb to make an exquisitely soft egg-like ball of yarn. Each small step of this project has been a sensory joy.
Silver Pebble Blanket, image courtesy of Emma Mitchell. Misty Alpaca Chunky in CP58 Sky Gray
Silver Pebble Blanket, image courtesy of Emma Mitchell. Misty Alpaca Chunky in CP58 Sky Gray
I’m utterly thrilled that Susan from Loop has offered a voucher for me to giveaway. £25 is a yarny spree, a skein of Misti Alpaca and a beautiful crochet hook, a chance to visit this divine shop, either online or in person and dawdle over its beautiful shelves, knowing that you can skip off to the checkout with glee, carrying a real or virtual basket of soft goodness. You may enter below and best of all woolly luck.
Thanks Emma!
There are four different ways you can enter our giveaway to win a £25 voucher to spend at Loop!
We’re using Rafflecopter to chose a random winner so first make sure you head to Emma’s blog post on Silver Pebble about her crochet blanket and first register for the giveaway with your email address. Then to enter, follow the instructions and either leave a comment on Emma’s blog saying what you might make should you win the voucher, follow LoopLondonLoves or  silverpebble2 on Instagram and you can also follow silverpebble on Twitter – or do all four!
All the entries will be collated using Rafflecopter and we will notify the winner on Friday 25th September.
Good Luck and Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

15 Comments on “Misti Alpaca Chunky and Silver Pebble Giveaway”

  2. Hi,
    I went on to the Silver Pebble log, logged in and was unable to leave a comment as link not working! Will try again later.

    Reply

  3. How beautifully the author describes her project makes me want to meet her. I live in the U.S. , am coming to your shop maybe she will stop by and she just might pop in. See you soon. I look forward to hearing from you each week. Thanks.
    Susan

    Reply

  5. Socks! Stupidly fancy socks in ridiculously nice yarn– I can do a pair for me and my mum out of those (the advantage of small feet!)

    Reply

  7. I could not find a way to leave a comment on the Silver Pebble blog. I would use this delicious yarn (and many more skeins) to make an afghan for a lovely cable Misti Alpaca pattern that I have.

    I also want to thank Susan and Loop for your hospitality during my long-awaited visit to Loop Sept 1. I was delighted that you are walking distance from my son’s Islington flat and came from Chicago to see you all. (Well, to see him too!) I could spend many hours in Loop, but even in my short visit, I chose some lovely yarn for a couple of projects and a bit of haberdashery.

    Then last week, my fabulous Loop 10 book was delivered to my doorstep and I can’t get enough of it. My congratulations on producing such a high quality and high value publication. Everything about it is so impressive. I’m looking forward to starting the Islington shawl as the souvenir of my stay in London.

    All the best for continued success!

    Reply

    • Hello Margene, I’m so sorry you couldn’t manage to leave a comment. Do let me know whether you received an error message and if so what it said so that I can help or perhaps contact the Rafflecopter team. It would be a shame for you to miss out on entering. My email address is emma@minniedog.co.uk. All best wishes, Emma M (silverpebble)

      Reply

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