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The Woobles vs. Alternatives: Is It Worth the Price
The Woobles is the most recognized name in beginner crochet kits, helped along by a Shark Tank appearance and heavy social media presence. That name recognition means a lot of people search for it specifically before comparing it to anything else. Here's a direct look at whether it's worth choosing over the cheaper competition.
The Woobles
- Price
- Around $30 per kit
- Rating
- Consistently high ratings (around 4.5 stars, often 1,000+ reviews per design)
What's in the box
- Pre-started yarn
- Polished video tutorials
- Safety eyes and stuffing
What's different about it: pre-started yarn (the trickiest part of starting a project is already done for you). The pre-started yarn is the real product here, not a gimmick. Starting a magic ring cleanly is one of the more fiddly things for a total beginner to get right, and skipping that step removes a common early frustration point.
Mewaii
- Price
- Around $20 per single kit, less per animal on multi-packs
What's in the box
- Pre-started yarn
- Hook
- Needle
- Stuffing
- Tutorials
What's the same: also uses pre-started yarn, also includes hook, needle, stuffing, tutorials. What's different: based on buyer feedback, the instructions are less polished and lean more heavily on the video than Woobles' do. Multi-animal packs mean more practice per dollar if you want to make several toys. If your main reason for wanting a kit is the pre-started yarn specifically, Mewaii gets you that same core benefit for roughly a third less per project. The gap is in instruction quality and overall polish, not the core mechanic.
The budget alternative: skip the kit entirely
Price: Under $10 in materials if you already own a hook, or under $20 for hook and yarn together.
What's different: You start from a standard chain and magic ring, no pre-started shortcut, using our free basic amigurumi ball pattern. This takes slightly more technique to get through the first project, starting a magic ring cleanly does take a little practice, but it teaches you the actual foundational skill instead of routing around it. If you plan to make more than one amigurumi project, you'll need to learn to start from scratch eventually anyway. Worth considering if budget matters more than a smooth first attempt.
Our honest take
The Woobles is genuinely good, the pre-started yarn and instruction quality are real advantages, not just marketing. But "genuinely good" isn't the same as "the only option." If price matters, Mewaii gets you most of the same experience for less. If you want to actually learn the technique instead of shortcutting past it, skip the pre-started gimmick entirely and start with a free pattern. The Woobles earns its price for people who specifically value polish and a guaranteed clean result on the first try. It's not the only reasonable way in.
Looking for something more specific
- More budget-focused picks generally → best crochet starter kits under $30
- The fuller amigurumi comparison including a printed-pattern option → best amigurumi kits for beginners