Review: Crocheting The Woobles - Amigurumi Kits for Beginners

My idea of a perfect day includes afternoon tea, a great film or audiobook, and hours of crafting. Like any crafter, whenever I see something in a store, I think “hey I could probably make that.” Sure it’ll cost 8x the amount that it’s being sold for and it’ll take several months to make, but the fact is I can probably make it. However, one thing that I’ve always doubted about myself is the art of amigurumi (aka making small stuffed creatures out of yarn). It doesn’t matter how many books I’ve read on the topic or how many videos I’ve watched, it’s hard!

Our Crochet History

Xak and I both have crafty backgrounds thanks to our crafty relatives. Growing up, Xak learned how to knit from his grandmother and his Nonna is an avid crocheter who loves to make blankets.

My childhood home is full of cross stitch art on the walls, yarn, sewing supplies, and a ton of plants. While I didn’t inherit Ma’s skill for growing plants, I obtained an interest in cross stitching and Ma taught me when I was 14. I found it fascinating being able to create art with thread, particularly little X’s! Growing up, there was also an abundance of fabric for the clothes Ma would sew, and yarn for crochet projects stored in the tables of our TV room.

After I bought my own house, Ma and Pa visited and brought a blanket made out of the yarn that had been living in one of the TV room tables since I was a child. It was nice to have a piece of my childhood home with me. Nonna had also made a blanket for Xak which we also happily use.

Crochet blankets — *Three generations making blankets! Ma (using the yarn from my childhood), Nonna (using Xak’s favorite color), and me (after hours of YouTube).*

Despite being surrounded by crocheters, I struggled to learn how to do it myself. It never made sense to me because I couldn’t “see the V”s, never knew which loop to put my hook into, couldn’t read a pattern, and just felt frustrated with the lumpy, tangled messes I would ultimately create.

During the visit when Ma gave me the blanket, I was able to practice some basic stitches and she directly pointed out where the mistakes were. After that, I watched a ton more YouTube videos to try and learn. I finally obtained some minor success. I was able to create mainly flat, rectangular items like potholders and scarves. However, the cute little amigurumi characters I would see while scrolling through my Instagram feed were still a mystery to me. I figured that would never happen. 😢

Eddie and the Amigurumi Ice Cream

Our pre-schooler nephew, Eddie, is the “owner” of a coffee shop called “Coffee Yum Yum” which both Xak and I “work” at every time we see him. I am the “assistant boss” and Xak is the employee who is constantly getting fired and rehired by Eddie. Our work schedule consists of 99 hours on Thursdays, and 10 hours every other day of the week. He’s a tough boss!

During our “lunch breaks,” Xak and I always try to order ice cream, but Eddie always claims that we’re out of ice cream the moment we try to order. After being denied ice cream so many times, I decided to take matters in my own hands. Literally.

With Eddie’s upcoming birthday, I spent weeks learning how to make amigurumi ice cream cones. After many sleepless nights of painstakingly watching the same YouTube video, screaming numerous curse words, and undoing and redoing the same row over and over again, I succeeded!

Crochet amigurumi ice cream — *I lost so much sleep learning how to make dairy free, gluten free ice cream.*

HAHA! Now, we’ll always have ice cream…. Boss.
-Me, triumphantly Proving Boss wrong, and hoping I don’t get fired

Disco Fred: The Groovy Dino Wooble

Since Eddie is at the age where he loves cuddly stuffed animals, I wanted to try my hand at making one of my own. Although I achieved success with the ice cream, I was worried about how long it took for me to create something and the amount of sleep I lost. One day while watching one of our favorite shows, Shark Tank, I saw a couple introduce their crochet for beginners company, The Woobles. They showed off adorable little crochet animals and explained how their target market was for people without crochet experience but wanted to learn.

Me, being skeptical as usual, was actually quite impressed with their pitch and quite curious. I immediately looked them up online and instantly regretted it because suddenly all my social media feeds were full of targeted ads for The Woobles. After a few weeks of resisting, I couldn’t take it anymore and decided I would purchase one to make for Eddie as a Christmas present. Looks like marketing works after all 😄

About the Woobles

The Woobles website sells a variety of kits for cute animals, adorable accessories, and well known franchises like Snoopy and Pacman. Since it was right before holiday season, several items were sold out. While I intended on buying the basic, green version of Fred the dinosaur, he was unfortunately unavailable. Luckily, disco (rainbow) Fred was available if I purchased the kit that included a crochet hook. I have several crochet hooks, but it doesn’t hurt to get another. Disco Fred with hook cost $30.

After noticing the huge banner on the site that said “FREE SHIPPING WITH ORDERS OVER $50+!” I suddenly felt inspired to get Fred some small accessories. I spotted a book, an ice cream cone, and even a little coffee cup! Perfect, Fred could be our new Coffee Yum Yum mascot and now I could get free shipping! (that’s how they get you 😄)

Based on the arrival date, I would only have about a day to crochet Fred and his accessories before Christmas. Since we were planning on driving and not flying, the only time I could crochet would be during our first night in a hotel. Talk about a time crunch 😬

The package arrived and I threw it in my bag for our long drive. Once we got to the hotel, I ripped open the packaging so I could get started ASAP. I was quite impressed with all the adorable details and just how sickeningly cute everything was. The Woobles founder has a design background and you can definitely tell. I hadn’t even opened up any kits and I was already excited for my amigurumi adventure!

Inside The Woobles kit

Since the main goal was to make sure Fred was more than a ball of yarn by the time we saw Eddie, I opened up the shiny Disco Fred package and laid out the materials to see what I would be working with. Inside the kit included rainbow yarn (soon to be Fred 🤞), yellow yarn, stuffing, a cardboard envelope, and the ergonomic crochet hook I had to buy in order to get my kit on time.

*Disco Fred’s materials laid out on the hotel bed: “Easy-peasy” yarn, stuffing, a crochet hook, and a small envelope full of “wee woobly” bits*

The yarn felt different from the widely available acrylic yarn I usually pick up from craft stores. The packaging called it “easy-peasy” yarn and it certainly felt true to its name. The website claims that it wouldn’t fray or snag and since it’s made of a combination of nylon and cotton. I had high hopes.

Inside the “Wee Woobly Bits” envelope was a card introducing Fred, a large needle, some black “easy-peasy” yarn, and safety eyes. However, what really excited me was seeing the little Disco Fred sticker sealing the back of the envelope! Seriously, the attention to detail is truly superb!

Now that I knew all the materials I would be using, I felt good about starting. The back of the “Meet Fred” card had a url with a password to access the videos and patterns to make Disco Fred. After pulling up the videos on the phone, I was able to watch all the steps to make Fred. Each video was only a few minutes and broken up based on the step you were on with the owner (Justine) crocheting along with you and explaining everything you need to know to complete the step.

The biggest challenge when I made my ice cream cones was the dreaded “magic circle,” which is the basis for many amigurumi projects. Since this is not something you would typically do for a scarf or blanket, I had previously enlisted the help of a YouTube video that had over a million views. After watching the video 86 times (not an exaggeration), I finally got it.

With the Woobles kit, they actually start the magic circle FOR you. This is nice because if you are a true beginner, I guarantee you will very likely throw away crochet if the first thing you have to do is a magic circle.

Crocheting Disco Fred

As Shark Tank blared on the 42″ hotel TV in the background (I told you, we love this show!), I started to worry that maybe I would be giving Eddie a round coaster for Christmas. However, I continued to crochet following the instructions. Since I was familiar with single crochet (the main stitch needed for this project), I realized I really just needed to follow the pattern.

Slowly but surely, the coaster started turning into a lumpy sock. As more deals on Shark Tank were made, the sock started turning into… a body! There were some instances where I consulted the videos and I found it reassuring that I could crochet along with someone if I wanted to, particularly with decreases which was a new concept for me. At long last, Fred actually looked like… Fred!

Feeling confident that Fred was more than just a ball of yarn, I felt comfortable getting some sleep and vowed to finish him the next day. Xak and I had a reservation for a tea room the next morning, but I had a good feeling. All I had left to do was the tail, the spikes, and sewing on some final details.

Sure enough, Fred turned out just as I hoped! In between lots of festive baking, I was even able to complete the hat, the coffee, and the ice cream cone kits. When I gave him to Eddie, he was very pleased.

Woobles Fred with Accessories — *Presenting the new mascot of Coffee Yum Yum: Disco Fred (donned with a party hat, cup of coffee, and even his own ice cream cone!)*

With our new mascot ready to go, Eddie happily opened up Coffee Yum Yum and Xak and I began our shifts. What a great “work” day!

Final Thoughts

The Woobles is great for beginner crocheters. I love how much detail and care is presented in the product packaging and the instructions. The videos are set up to really help a complete newbie pick up a crochet hook and make something tangible and adorable. Just like following a recipe, your results may vary, however The Woobles does an excellent job of breaking down tasks. The owner’s education and design background is very evident and appreciated.

Craft kits in general will always run more price wise than if you bought the materials separately. However, since the easy-peasy yarn is proprietary and exclusive to the Woobles, the materials are actually quite expensive. As a beginner, it’s nice to use materials that help you learn the skill, but your wallet will be much happier if you can switch to normal yarn.

If you’re a beginner to crochet and interested in making a cute stuffed animal for yourself (or for your preschool coffee shop owning nephew), I definitely recommend giving The Woobles a try!

Bonus: Xak Meets Felix the Fox

After Xak saw how quickly I made Disco Dino Fred, he decided he wanted to try his hand at amigurumi too. After the holiday season (and working 4 more Coffee Yum Yum shifts), Xak and I returned home where he promptly ordered a kit for Felix the Fox from the Woobles site.

Although Xak has made a few items with single crochet, he has never attempted crocheting in the round, doing increases or decreases, or using stuffing so he chose to follow the videos from start to finish. As a lover of foxes, Xak is definitely the target market for the Woobles.