Yarn for Amigurumi

Dear users, dear authors,
What kind of yarn is best for amigurumi?

I prefer cotton. It’s really easy to work with, and you can wash the little animal easily later on.

I only use cotton myself—specifically, well-twisted cotton—so that the stitch pattern comes out nice and clean (and crocheting is easier!). The yarn should also have a certain amount of body and, if possible, a subtle sheen.

I always use cotton, too. But for my last project, I used chenille yarn. That was the deer trophy by mala-design
Here in the gallery

Most of the time I work with mercerized cotton, but I’ve also crocheted with acrylic yarn. It depends on the project.

I also prefer to crochet with mercerized cotton. I like that it’s durable and easy to wash, that the crocheted items hold their shape well, don’t pill, and have a nice sheen.
When I first started crocheting, I also used acrylic yarn, but now—years later and after two kids—those items look pretty worn out and dull (at least mine do); they pill a lot and have lost much of their shape. On the other hand, everything I crocheted from cotton back then still looks great today, even though my kids aren’t exactly gentle with them ;-)

I’m curious to see how my “food” projects turn out. I’ve started with acrylic yarn and I’m really liking it so far. I’m getting along better with it than I did during my first attempts a few years ago. Back then, I crocheted with cotton and gave up pretty quickly because I didn’t like my crocheted tomatoes and apples at all.

Maybe, after my success with acrylic, I’ll try cotton again just to compare. 

Dear Petra,

I think it’s great that you’re giving it another try and are now having success with acrylic :-).
Things look great with it too, no question about it.

In my case, I only just noticed it recently when I was tidying up the box of crocheted food items with the children. That’s when I had a direct comparison: here the first carrot from 6 years ago made of cotton, next to it the first crocheted banana from 6 years ago made of acrylic... there really was a difference ;-)

But in the end, it’s like with almost everything: everyone has their own personal preference, and that’s a good thing :-)

Thanks, Marike. Of course, I don’t have anything to compare it to. But you’re right—even with other crochet projects, I haven’t really been satisfied with acrylic so far and have tended not to buy it.

I’m giving these away as Easter gifts. I’ll just keep crocheting for now; I still have some cotton, and I’m also using leftover sock yarn for the lettuce leaves. It’ll just be a small gift basket.   

I think sock yarn works well, too.
Especially if the amigurumi will get a lot of play and will end up in the washing machine every now and then.
I usually use mercerized cotton, too. For one thing, because it has a nice sheen, is usually available in soooo many colors, and—if worked up nice and tight—holds its shape very well. That really makes a difference when stuffing it. Acrylic is usually pretty low-maintenance, too, so it’s often machine-washable. It’s also a good option from that perspective, but for me, at least, the crochet or knitting always stretches a lot during stuffing, and then you can see the stuffing through the stitches. No matter how tightly I work, I can’t prevent that from happening. So, in my opinion, it’s better suited for items that are stuffed more loosely.

I crocheted two of my animals—a little calf and a sloth—using acrylic yarn because they were meant to be stuffed animals, and acrylic is softer than cotton. I didn’t stuff them quite as tightly so they wouldn’t become too stiff. However, I also crocheted them with a very small hook (size 1.75) to avoid the stretching holes Nina mentioned that can occur when stuffing. For purely decorative purposes, though, I only use cotton or sometimes chenille. I’d like to use that to crochet a teddy bear now—we’ll see how it turns out.

I found that mercerized cotton worked best for me. It’s been a few years since I last made amigurumi, but everything I crocheted with it is still in great condition. 

I also prefer cotton yarn for this; it simply holds its shape best.
However, the colors fade very quickly when it is exposed to the sun. Acrylic is better suited for that.
Since acrylic still stretches a lot later on, it needs to be crocheted with very tight tension and a small hook size so it stays nice-looking for longer.
I find that uncomfortable, and it digs in a lot under tension. I much prefer cotton yarn.