Amigurumi basics – a review of DK/8ply yarns

Hello crochet friends!

As a yarn lover, I am always keen to try new yarns (and I am sure you are too!). With that in mind, I thought I would share with you a few of the yarns I have tried/use to make my amigurumi, how they feel, how easy they are to work with, and how they compare price-wise. Because there are so many different brands out-there, I am going to focus on DK/8ply yarns (crocheted with a 3/4 mm hook for amigurumi) in this post, but I will also do another post comparing 4ply yarns (crocheted with a 2/3 mm hook for amigurumi). Let’s get started!

Brand: Rico Design ‘Ricorumi’ DK
Composition: 100% cotton
Emma’s yarn rating: 4/5
I really enjoy working with this yarn to make amigurumi! Its best quality in my opinion is the amazing range of colours it comes in. There are 80 colours so far and they are so vibrant. I particularly like that there are lots of beautiful neutral colours, ideal for skin tones or for realistic animal colours. I find it quite soft on the hands (even though some colours seem to be a little rougher) and I haven’t had any issues with splitting. I wish it came in bigger quantities because I often need more than one ball for my projects (they are 25g each) but I have to say the little balls are super cute! Price-wise, they are on the more expensive side but well worth it in my opinion.

Brand: La Mia ‘Cottony’ and ‘Mini Cottony’
Composition: 100% cotton
Emma’s yarn rating: 3/5
This yarn is super soft and the colours are beautiful and vibrant, with 31 colours available. I do love that they come in both 25g and 50g balls. I did find it a bit hard to work with however, because it ended up splitting quite a lot, especially with tight stitches in amigurumi. I found that the price is fair for the quality.

Brand: La Mia ‘Pastel Cotton’
Composition: 100% cotton
Emma’s yarn rating: 2/5
I did not enjoy working with this yarn for amigurumi very much. It would probably be more suited to baby clothes or a blanket. It was too fuzzy in my opinion, with little fluffs of yarn coming off as I was crocheting, and also splitted quite often. The colour range is not huge but does have some nice pastel colours (hence the name). One thing I enjoyed about this yarn was its softness. It is overall well priced but I didn’t enjoy making amigurumi with it so I will not buy it again.

Brand: DMC ‘Happy Cotton’
Composition: 100% cotton
Emma’s yarn rating: 4/5
I overall really enjoy working with this yarn for making amigurumi. It is soft on the hands and does not split. They also come in a good range of colours. The one little thing I thought could be better is the vibrancy of some colours. I got some yellow and orange that were quite dull (especially for colours that should be bright).

Brand: Spotlight ‘Flinders’ 8ply
Composition: 100% cotton
Emma’s yarn rating: 3/5
I have used this range a lot as there is a Spotlight just down the road from where I live. I like this yarn to make amigurumi, especially if I’m working on prototypes for new designs and I don’t want to waste higher quality yarn on them. The colours are vibrant and the yarn is quite soft. However, there is not a huge range of colours and especially there aren’t many neutrals (no proper brown for example, which is a problem because I use this colour a lot). The yarn is a little splitty, but it’s very cheap, so overall it’s worth it.

Brand: Lincraft ‘Makr cotton’ 8ply
Composition: 100% cotton
Emma’s yarn rating: 3/5
Again, I use this yarn a lot as I often get Lincraft vouchers for my birthday and there is a store pretty close to me. I like the range of some colours (they have lots of very nice blues) but they are lacking in some other shades (greens for example) and once again there is no brown. The yarn is slightly fuzzy but not too much so it’s not a problem and it does make the yarn very soft to use, which is a good thing in my opinion. Similarly to the Spotlight yarn, it is a bit splitty but again very cheap so worth it overall.

Brand: Patons ‘Cotton Blend’ 8ply
Composition: 50% cotton, 50% acrylic
Emma’s yarn rating: 4/5
I really enjoy this yarn and I’ve used it a few times to make amigurumi as gifts for friends or for my boys. I do like that it is an Australian brand too, as I’m in Australia and I like to support local businesses. I find this yarn very soft, and easy to use with no splitting. The yarn is a little fuzzy due to the acrylic content, which probably helps to make it softer but it’s not too fuzzy that it falls apart. The colours are very lovely and vibrant, with quite a few neutrals. The price is on the more expensive side but the quality makes it worth it.

I will leave it here for today, I will aim to do a few other posts comparing yarns I have used to make amigurumi. I am thinking of comparing some acrylic DK/8ply yarns and some fingering/4ply yarns, which one would you like to see next? You can also let me know which are your favourite yarns to use in the comments, I always love to hear from you!

I am not sponsored by any of the brands I have reviewed here. I am simply sharing my personal experience crocheting with those yarns when making amigurumi.