I'm not usually one to jump on the latest trends, but Chunky yarns are huge right now and I am loving them. If you've been around for a while, you know I have a thing for making a plushie then making a giant and miniature version. Chunky yarn makes great giant plushies! I love the look of the big stitches rather than just doubling up your stitch count (which doesn't really work right, you have to adjust your increases/decreases etc.) and it's a much quicker process. So I wanted to take a little time to talk about some of my favorites and what I am doing with them. I don't plan to do any chunky yarn reviews too soon, I want to get through a lot more of the worsted weights first as they are more practical, so this is what you get in the meantime.
First off, Bernat Softee Chunky. This is your inexpensive option. This
was my first foray into chunky yarns and I like it a lot. It has very
vibrant colors and comes in some of the bigger skeins I've found. I wish
it were a bit less fuzzy though, but it makes for good plushies. Due to
the price, I may use it more in the future. It's easy to work with and
this would definitely be the yarn I would suggest if you are just
starting with chunky yarns or finances are limited. I would use it more,
but my primary use for chunky yarn is giant My Little Pony plushies and
this yarn doesn't really have an orange which is very frustrating. I
made these guys with this yarn in the past and I love how vibrant the
red is!
Next up is one I have not worked with as much:
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I have only worked with Loops & Threads: Zoomba once, but it was very much like the Softee Chunky (dman these yarns have weird names!) it's soft and fluffy but a bit more for a similar sized skein. Also you can only find it at Michaels which is a pain for me as it's across town. It only comes in seven colors so is not great for my use but I used it because they had the only chunky purple I could find at the time. Not a bad yarn at all if they have the colors you want. I made the large pony here using it.
And finally my favorite:
I'm not generally a big lion brand fan, but their Hometown USA chunky weight yarn is fantastic. It runs a bit more expensive considering it is a smaller skein but I think it is worth it. It's a very soft and sleek yarn that is just wonderful to work with, it unwinds into super soft roving if you just untwist. It gives the plushies a great clean feel and they don't collect bits of fluff like most other yarns do. I have gotten very lucky with this yarn lately as my local Craft Warehouse has been selling bags that have three to five skeins of this yarn for only $5, considering one skein usually runs around $4 that is pretty incredible. Unfortunately the colors are limited so I have a ton of light yellow but I have a big project planned with it, but I'll tell you more about that once I have a bit more of it completed. I would definitely suggest giving this yarn a try it is an absolute dream to work with and the color variety is better than either of the other two. I've mostly just made my ponies with this yarn (minus the purple one of course.)If you are going to give these yarns a try, I suggest using a size J hook for double or HD stitches and you can go up to an M or N for SC. You could go even bigger if you aren't working on something that worries about fiber fill poking through. I generally don't like using the huge hooks as I feel like I'm doing less fine craft and more kids craft, but it is a lot of fun to see how quickly these projects come together.
Thanks for taking a look and I hope you find this useful if you are planning to try using some chunky yarn or just looking for some good brands. I know there are other good yarns out there, and these are only some of these acrylic yarns so let me know what else you like, what I should be trying. I will be doing a follow up in the near future where I talk about some other projects I am working on in chunky yarns. But until then, have a great week!
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