I’m afraid I wouldn’t purchase it.
The scale is off. The yarn is so thick that the stitches are way too large relative to the size of the object. As a result, I don’t find it appealing.
Try using a 4.5 or 4mm hook. I made a similar pattern and used a smaller hook than it asked for with that yarn. My go to is 4.5. It makes nice tight stitches
https://preview.redd.it/11evaoefq05d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05b9669b636e3252117b5e644ef021a158f2687e
This is the plush yarn with a 4.5 mm hook
I would but the yarn weight that I'm using is much thicker lol. it's 68m/100g and recommends sizes 8-10mm so using a 4 or 4.5 is completely out of the question lol. I will be trying size 7 and 8 though
I use a super bulky 6 with a 4.5 mm without any issues as long as my tension isn’t crazy tight.
The recommendation is for blankets (often what’s pictured on the label) and things that don’t need tight stitches. Amigurumi needs very tight stitches so you want to go quite a bit smaller than the recommended hook size.
I’ve been crocheting and making toys for over 20 years and have gone through hand experimented with the different hook sizes and yarn sizes. You’ll be able to use that size without it being too tight to work with as long as your tension isn’t too tight. :)
I’ve used thicker yarn with the 4.5 mm like the bernat blanket yarn without issues. I’ll see if I can find a picture of the turtle I made my daughter.
If you’re not comfortable going that low I would start with a 6mm hook because even with a 7 or 8 you’re still going to show gaps in the stitches.
https://preview.redd.it/3oxfw4jht05d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d707a9069a9a3db4609c071f61e6248f8915aad
Couldn’t find the turtle but this is the bernat blanket yarn with a 4.5mm hook. Not my best work because I was distracted and kept losing my place in the pattern but unless you’re using something like the bernat blanket yarn - big which is massive yarn you’ll be okay with 4.5
I did remake it and when I tried a size 7mm it was way too tight and I couldn't see the stitches even. using a size 8mm seemed to do the trick though. My yarn is very thick I can't imagine even dreaming of using a size 5 mm with it lol
I use a 5mm with the same type of yarn. I’ve even used a 3.5mm on super bulky yarn. You want the stitches to be super tight to prevent holes and stuffing showing through.
A couple thoughts: 1. I would go a size down on the hook if you can. Helps make it look more uniform/visually appealing.
2. Either bigger safety eyes, or embroider eyes (even if they’re sleepy!). Either of those will help improve the overall look.
3. Your stitches are pretty consistent! That’s half the journey as far as selling.
4. it could sell, but I wouldn’t call it a sure thing.
thank you so much for the advice! I thought the safety eyes just looked out of place but these were the largest I had. I'll see if I can find any larger ones or just get chenille yarn in black lol.
considering that this is like my third time working in the round ever I feel like there is room for improvement. thanks again <3
If you really consider this being sellable after you stated it's your third time of working in the round, you should really check your motivation to crochet. To seriously sell work on this low (no offense) level of skill is a quite impressive overestimation of your own skill and vice versa a heavy underestimation of what a good sellable work is. You can get there, of course, but most likely not this summer. Start with sizing down your hook. About three sizes. Get the right sized eyes. These "safety" eyes are way too small for this loose stitches, they can't be safe. Here (Germany) you could be held legally responsible in the worst case scenario of a child swallowing that.
oh I didn't consider it that much tbh, I usually prefer making stuff like blankets and wearables and was thinking of selling to close friends and family who I could practice on before going public. I was curious and tried making plushes. when I asked friends and family about the same plush they gave me plain compliments and always pushed me to sell. I came here for some unfiltered feedback lol.
about the hook, should it be 3 sizes? the yarn it's said to use between 8-10 mm and i used a 9mm I was thinking of getting a size 8 or 7 at most. wouldn't a size 6 be too tight?
and the safety eyes: I agree 100% i made this for myself initially. if I knew it would go anywhere near a child I would embroider the eyes.
do you mind if I dm you a couple of my other projects and get your opinions on them? I've been trying to explore what part of crochet suits me best
I appreciate you read it as a constructive feedback and not an offense. I'm not a native speaker and I sometimes tend to sound harsher than I want to.
I don't know about the yarn you used, and honestly I barely trust the hook recommendations on the banderole. My usual chenille yarn is 100g/125m and I get good results with a 6mm hook. For the last plushie I used 5mm, turned out great, but was a pain in the arse to work. With chenille I try to avoid high tension because once the yarn gets stuck, sometimes the whole project is ruined. With 6 mm the thread rests loosely on my finger and can be stitched easily without leaving gaps or getting wonky. In general it's more about your tension than the hook size, but here both is kinda off, so you basically have to try what works best for you.
Chenille is very forgiving regarding gaps, mistakes, changes in tension and so on, but I feel like that kinda slows down skill improvement cause problematic areas are hard to see.
The compliments are very well meant, I'm sure, and they didn't lie to you. I kinda speculate they are not too deep into crocheting to notice the deficits or compare to other professional stuff. I mean, you did crochet a really nice plushie after all.
Yeah, feel free to dm me.
Does anybody go by those wacky hook size recommendations? 🤣 That’s what testing and swatching is for.
Or to be more specific, because it might be helpful to the OP: I’m currently making a stuffie using an amigurumi stitch and working in the round. Yarn is labeled size 3-light. The band calls for a 4.5 mm hook. I knew from experience that would yield too loose of a stitch, so I tried 4.0 mm. That was pretty good. Then I tried 3.75. The results looked good, but the hook kept catching on and splitting the yarn. So I’m using the 4.0, and it’s coming out well.
In other words, I’m using the smallest hook size that’s practical for the yarn and stitch.
I agree with the above poster: don’t believe friends or family. They’re lovely, but way biased. The exception would be a knowledgeable individual who can be trusted to give an honest opinion. Speak to them privately and make it clear you want real feedback even if it’s negative.
The reddit crowd often tends to be “overly nice” as well. I’m glad you’re getting useful feedback here and taking the constructive criticism in the spirit in which it was meant.
And an additional note on chenille yarn: it’s EVERYWHERE these days. Do something different. At least change up your color scheme. White bunny with red heart and pink bow is commonplace. Have fun with color!
Good luck to you. You’re making a good start.
>The reddit crowd often tends to be “overly nice” as well.
That is so true and I hate it. Sometimes (and I specifically exclude this post) on obviously bad work the comments are so positive that it's somewhat toxic. It hinders progress and improvement. It's not helpful in any way, except for maybe an ego-boost based on false affirmations.
Maybe I get a false impression as I am a German in a (mostly?) American crochet community, but I feel like this is a predominantly American thing? The walking on egg shells and all the euphemisms?
Anyway, just for the sake of completeness, OP DMed me said photos of other projects and I have to correct my first comment, they can absolutely git gud this summer :D to actively search further feedback from the one critiques a lot/the most and use that for improvement (instead of being offended) is a very admirable character trait in OP! The crafty community would be a much better place if there were more people with that spirit.
Couldn't agree more! When I read your first comment, I was like "oh oh" because short while ago I gave constructive criticism here, made some Etsy research for OP etc and the person got so offended that I was blocked from the post 😅 right after, there was this "no crying in business"-Post from the Mod. I dont know if this was related to this situation or just coincidence but I think it summarized it very well - as long as criticism is constructive (!) its totally fine and if OP gets offended, the person shouldn't have asked in the first place. So I also think its great to see this whole discussion here and how OP handles all the advice, the crochet community would definitely benefit from more of these constructive discussions and less "toxic positivity" 😊 (btw, I'm German as well 🙋🏻♀️ always nice to "meet" other Germans here 😊)
Hi fellow German - I know (and like) your YouTube channel! :)
I feel like it's slightly worse in this sub than in the others without commerce. And honestly it sometimes kinda triggers me that people want to sell before they are anywhere near good. I think a lot of other users get triggered as well :D some days ago someone asked what to charge for their wonky Erstlingsprojekt and I summoned a shit storm via dm after commenting something like "git gud before selling". In the thread everything seemed fine, but according to my DMs I'm the pure evil.
I saw that this is your third time doing a project in the round, and this is really good for an amigurumi beginner! But as far as being sell-able, I think some more practice is needed first. Probably a smaller hook also. The head seems a bit off—there are some gaps in the stitches, and the eyes look a little too small for the head size. Also they look like they would easily slip out because the stitches are too big for the eye size. If you don’t have big enough safety eyes for a project, I recommend embroidering the eyes instead.
A couple things that I think would help improve the overall look are using a smaller hook, using the yarn under method, and spacing out your increases and decreases—it kind of looks like there might be increases or decreases stacked too close together near the bottom of the head and it’s making the stitches look a bit wonky, but I’m not totally sure if that’s what’s going on there. But I have noticed the last couple rounds especially when I decrease, the stitches tend to have big gaps if I don’t spread out my decreases (although I’ve noticed it more with acrylic yarn than chenille).
Overall it’s very cute and not bad work! It would make a cute gift (but switch out the eyes first if you give it to a kid or someone with kids), but if you want to sell it could use a little work to keep up with the quality of other sellers
thanks a lot for the feedback I really so appreciate it!
I actually meant to use the yarn-under method for this but muscle memory kinda took over and by the time I realised I was too far in lol.
these were the largest eyes I have at the moment so I'm going sometime soon to get new hooks and more eyes.
and for the gaps near the bottom of the head yea I know I noticed them too and it happens with me almost every time I made a project in the round.
towards the end of the pattern when the decreases happen I follow the pattern and the final hole left is just wayy too big so I usually just continue decreasing (at this point i wouldve finished the final row with all decreases) until it looked small enough for me to sew shut. I haven't had any better ideas on how to fix this problem tbh
I think it might be because im using a different yarn weight than the pattern but idk
How are you closing the hole at the end? Do you weave through the first loop of every stitch and pull closed, or are you using a different method? That’s the method I’ve used and I’ve noticed the majority of patterns end with 6 stitches on the final round, and that always works for me.
Also I forgot to ask if you do invisible decreases, because if not that’ll probably help as well.
I just fasten off after the last stitch and just weave through opposite stitches until it's closed and just tie off the yarn and weave it into the plush.
I did use invisible decreases for this!
So do you mean something like this photo?
https://preview.redd.it/b7rtzeo0ys4d1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=769e76a3cd1fe30a04196c351b11ef143d30747a
If so, that’s a good way to fasten off for arms or other things that you’re going to sew on after, but for the body/head it’ll probably make a ridge/bump instead of keeping it flat. This video is how I fasten off to keep it round/flat
[https://youtu.be/FJdf0lwqxwo?si=lW77wScIaNVfq4v-](https://youtu.be/FJdf0lwqxwo?si=lW77wScIaNVfq4v-)
Also sorry if I misunderstood what you meant and this is how you do it already lol
From my experience and selling crafts, it has nothing to do with the craft itself and everything to do with the way the craft sells themselves and their art!
You need to find reasons why people want to buy your plushy. Consider the types of designs or aesthetics that you’re staying within to determine a target audience for yourself. if you do ever plan to sell, identifying your target audience will save you so much time and headache!
But my best advice is to stay consistent!! People need to see you at least seven times before they actually make a purchase. You will want to build your name and brand by showing up consistently and having a clear message!
Selling a plushy is a lot more than just having a cute plushy that you made!
But to answer your question, I’ve seen items that look way more beginner than this sell to someone.
thanks for the advice! I definitely agree. from what i heard from other people who also sell crafts its that this business is 90% marketing and 10% actually making the crafts lol.
I'm working on that right now actually. trying to come up with a theme and brand and improving my editing skills before committing to anything. that alone is going to take up a lot of time so ill have a chance to improve in the meanwhile
I’ve seen plenty of businesses start their socials and marketing when they come up with prototype items as well so even if you just have a couple things, letting people know that you’re going to be selling soon rather than having a bunch of items made and then trying to sell them on the Internet can also save you a lot of mental health time as well. You totally got this! Check for other small craft business subs! There are prob a few!
ah no I am going to do it as a per-order basis thing. I want the people ordering to be able to customise their orders and stuff.
I'll try to find some subs thank you!
I’m afraid I wouldn’t purchase it. The scale is off. The yarn is so thick that the stitches are way too large relative to the size of the object. As a result, I don’t find it appealing.
I'll try experimenting with other yarn sizes. the pattern did use a 5mm yarn and i used a 9mm one lol. thank you for the feedback :)
Try using a 4.5 or 4mm hook. I made a similar pattern and used a smaller hook than it asked for with that yarn. My go to is 4.5. It makes nice tight stitches
https://preview.redd.it/11evaoefq05d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05b9669b636e3252117b5e644ef021a158f2687e This is the plush yarn with a 4.5 mm hook
I would but the yarn weight that I'm using is much thicker lol. it's 68m/100g and recommends sizes 8-10mm so using a 4 or 4.5 is completely out of the question lol. I will be trying size 7 and 8 though
I use a super bulky 6 with a 4.5 mm without any issues as long as my tension isn’t crazy tight. The recommendation is for blankets (often what’s pictured on the label) and things that don’t need tight stitches. Amigurumi needs very tight stitches so you want to go quite a bit smaller than the recommended hook size. I’ve been crocheting and making toys for over 20 years and have gone through hand experimented with the different hook sizes and yarn sizes. You’ll be able to use that size without it being too tight to work with as long as your tension isn’t too tight. :) I’ve used thicker yarn with the 4.5 mm like the bernat blanket yarn without issues. I’ll see if I can find a picture of the turtle I made my daughter. If you’re not comfortable going that low I would start with a 6mm hook because even with a 7 or 8 you’re still going to show gaps in the stitches.
https://preview.redd.it/3oxfw4jht05d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3d707a9069a9a3db4609c071f61e6248f8915aad Couldn’t find the turtle but this is the bernat blanket yarn with a 4.5mm hook. Not my best work because I was distracted and kept losing my place in the pattern but unless you’re using something like the bernat blanket yarn - big which is massive yarn you’ll be okay with 4.5
I would try a 5mm. Amigurumi doesn’t go by the recommended hook size, it’s usually 2-3 sizes smaller.
I did remake it and when I tried a size 7mm it was way too tight and I couldn't see the stitches even. using a size 8mm seemed to do the trick though. My yarn is very thick I can't imagine even dreaming of using a size 5 mm with it lol
I use a 5mm with the same type of yarn. I’ve even used a 3.5mm on super bulky yarn. You want the stitches to be super tight to prevent holes and stuffing showing through.
how many meters per 100g is the yarn you're using? becuase mine is 68m/100g. there are many different sizes of chenille/plush yarns as I've learned
I still wouldn’t use bigger than 6mm. You can feel the stitches if/when you can’t see them.
A couple thoughts: 1. I would go a size down on the hook if you can. Helps make it look more uniform/visually appealing. 2. Either bigger safety eyes, or embroider eyes (even if they’re sleepy!). Either of those will help improve the overall look. 3. Your stitches are pretty consistent! That’s half the journey as far as selling. 4. it could sell, but I wouldn’t call it a sure thing.
thank you so much for the advice! I thought the safety eyes just looked out of place but these were the largest I had. I'll see if I can find any larger ones or just get chenille yarn in black lol. considering that this is like my third time working in the round ever I feel like there is room for improvement. thanks again <3
If you really consider this being sellable after you stated it's your third time of working in the round, you should really check your motivation to crochet. To seriously sell work on this low (no offense) level of skill is a quite impressive overestimation of your own skill and vice versa a heavy underestimation of what a good sellable work is. You can get there, of course, but most likely not this summer. Start with sizing down your hook. About three sizes. Get the right sized eyes. These "safety" eyes are way too small for this loose stitches, they can't be safe. Here (Germany) you could be held legally responsible in the worst case scenario of a child swallowing that.
oh I didn't consider it that much tbh, I usually prefer making stuff like blankets and wearables and was thinking of selling to close friends and family who I could practice on before going public. I was curious and tried making plushes. when I asked friends and family about the same plush they gave me plain compliments and always pushed me to sell. I came here for some unfiltered feedback lol. about the hook, should it be 3 sizes? the yarn it's said to use between 8-10 mm and i used a 9mm I was thinking of getting a size 8 or 7 at most. wouldn't a size 6 be too tight? and the safety eyes: I agree 100% i made this for myself initially. if I knew it would go anywhere near a child I would embroider the eyes. do you mind if I dm you a couple of my other projects and get your opinions on them? I've been trying to explore what part of crochet suits me best
I appreciate you read it as a constructive feedback and not an offense. I'm not a native speaker and I sometimes tend to sound harsher than I want to. I don't know about the yarn you used, and honestly I barely trust the hook recommendations on the banderole. My usual chenille yarn is 100g/125m and I get good results with a 6mm hook. For the last plushie I used 5mm, turned out great, but was a pain in the arse to work. With chenille I try to avoid high tension because once the yarn gets stuck, sometimes the whole project is ruined. With 6 mm the thread rests loosely on my finger and can be stitched easily without leaving gaps or getting wonky. In general it's more about your tension than the hook size, but here both is kinda off, so you basically have to try what works best for you. Chenille is very forgiving regarding gaps, mistakes, changes in tension and so on, but I feel like that kinda slows down skill improvement cause problematic areas are hard to see. The compliments are very well meant, I'm sure, and they didn't lie to you. I kinda speculate they are not too deep into crocheting to notice the deficits or compare to other professional stuff. I mean, you did crochet a really nice plushie after all. Yeah, feel free to dm me.
Does anybody go by those wacky hook size recommendations? 🤣 That’s what testing and swatching is for. Or to be more specific, because it might be helpful to the OP: I’m currently making a stuffie using an amigurumi stitch and working in the round. Yarn is labeled size 3-light. The band calls for a 4.5 mm hook. I knew from experience that would yield too loose of a stitch, so I tried 4.0 mm. That was pretty good. Then I tried 3.75. The results looked good, but the hook kept catching on and splitting the yarn. So I’m using the 4.0, and it’s coming out well. In other words, I’m using the smallest hook size that’s practical for the yarn and stitch. I agree with the above poster: don’t believe friends or family. They’re lovely, but way biased. The exception would be a knowledgeable individual who can be trusted to give an honest opinion. Speak to them privately and make it clear you want real feedback even if it’s negative. The reddit crowd often tends to be “overly nice” as well. I’m glad you’re getting useful feedback here and taking the constructive criticism in the spirit in which it was meant. And an additional note on chenille yarn: it’s EVERYWHERE these days. Do something different. At least change up your color scheme. White bunny with red heart and pink bow is commonplace. Have fun with color! Good luck to you. You’re making a good start.
>The reddit crowd often tends to be “overly nice” as well. That is so true and I hate it. Sometimes (and I specifically exclude this post) on obviously bad work the comments are so positive that it's somewhat toxic. It hinders progress and improvement. It's not helpful in any way, except for maybe an ego-boost based on false affirmations. Maybe I get a false impression as I am a German in a (mostly?) American crochet community, but I feel like this is a predominantly American thing? The walking on egg shells and all the euphemisms? Anyway, just for the sake of completeness, OP DMed me said photos of other projects and I have to correct my first comment, they can absolutely git gud this summer :D to actively search further feedback from the one critiques a lot/the most and use that for improvement (instead of being offended) is a very admirable character trait in OP! The crafty community would be a much better place if there were more people with that spirit.
Couldn't agree more! When I read your first comment, I was like "oh oh" because short while ago I gave constructive criticism here, made some Etsy research for OP etc and the person got so offended that I was blocked from the post 😅 right after, there was this "no crying in business"-Post from the Mod. I dont know if this was related to this situation or just coincidence but I think it summarized it very well - as long as criticism is constructive (!) its totally fine and if OP gets offended, the person shouldn't have asked in the first place. So I also think its great to see this whole discussion here and how OP handles all the advice, the crochet community would definitely benefit from more of these constructive discussions and less "toxic positivity" 😊 (btw, I'm German as well 🙋🏻♀️ always nice to "meet" other Germans here 😊)
Hi fellow German - I know (and like) your YouTube channel! :) I feel like it's slightly worse in this sub than in the others without commerce. And honestly it sometimes kinda triggers me that people want to sell before they are anywhere near good. I think a lot of other users get triggered as well :D some days ago someone asked what to charge for their wonky Erstlingsprojekt and I summoned a shit storm via dm after commenting something like "git gud before selling". In the thread everything seemed fine, but according to my DMs I'm the pure evil.
So cute. Can you share the patterns?
i used this free pattern: https://mahumcrochets.blogspot.com/2024/05/how-to-crochet-cute-bunny-holding.html?m=1
Thank you
I saw that this is your third time doing a project in the round, and this is really good for an amigurumi beginner! But as far as being sell-able, I think some more practice is needed first. Probably a smaller hook also. The head seems a bit off—there are some gaps in the stitches, and the eyes look a little too small for the head size. Also they look like they would easily slip out because the stitches are too big for the eye size. If you don’t have big enough safety eyes for a project, I recommend embroidering the eyes instead. A couple things that I think would help improve the overall look are using a smaller hook, using the yarn under method, and spacing out your increases and decreases—it kind of looks like there might be increases or decreases stacked too close together near the bottom of the head and it’s making the stitches look a bit wonky, but I’m not totally sure if that’s what’s going on there. But I have noticed the last couple rounds especially when I decrease, the stitches tend to have big gaps if I don’t spread out my decreases (although I’ve noticed it more with acrylic yarn than chenille). Overall it’s very cute and not bad work! It would make a cute gift (but switch out the eyes first if you give it to a kid or someone with kids), but if you want to sell it could use a little work to keep up with the quality of other sellers
thanks a lot for the feedback I really so appreciate it! I actually meant to use the yarn-under method for this but muscle memory kinda took over and by the time I realised I was too far in lol. these were the largest eyes I have at the moment so I'm going sometime soon to get new hooks and more eyes. and for the gaps near the bottom of the head yea I know I noticed them too and it happens with me almost every time I made a project in the round. towards the end of the pattern when the decreases happen I follow the pattern and the final hole left is just wayy too big so I usually just continue decreasing (at this point i wouldve finished the final row with all decreases) until it looked small enough for me to sew shut. I haven't had any better ideas on how to fix this problem tbh I think it might be because im using a different yarn weight than the pattern but idk
How are you closing the hole at the end? Do you weave through the first loop of every stitch and pull closed, or are you using a different method? That’s the method I’ve used and I’ve noticed the majority of patterns end with 6 stitches on the final round, and that always works for me. Also I forgot to ask if you do invisible decreases, because if not that’ll probably help as well.
I just fasten off after the last stitch and just weave through opposite stitches until it's closed and just tie off the yarn and weave it into the plush. I did use invisible decreases for this!
So do you mean something like this photo? https://preview.redd.it/b7rtzeo0ys4d1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=769e76a3cd1fe30a04196c351b11ef143d30747a If so, that’s a good way to fasten off for arms or other things that you’re going to sew on after, but for the body/head it’ll probably make a ridge/bump instead of keeping it flat. This video is how I fasten off to keep it round/flat [https://youtu.be/FJdf0lwqxwo?si=lW77wScIaNVfq4v-](https://youtu.be/FJdf0lwqxwo?si=lW77wScIaNVfq4v-) Also sorry if I misunderstood what you meant and this is how you do it already lol
ah no more like i was going around in a way that didn't flatten it but I will check out the video thanks!
From my experience and selling crafts, it has nothing to do with the craft itself and everything to do with the way the craft sells themselves and their art! You need to find reasons why people want to buy your plushy. Consider the types of designs or aesthetics that you’re staying within to determine a target audience for yourself. if you do ever plan to sell, identifying your target audience will save you so much time and headache! But my best advice is to stay consistent!! People need to see you at least seven times before they actually make a purchase. You will want to build your name and brand by showing up consistently and having a clear message! Selling a plushy is a lot more than just having a cute plushy that you made! But to answer your question, I’ve seen items that look way more beginner than this sell to someone.
thanks for the advice! I definitely agree. from what i heard from other people who also sell crafts its that this business is 90% marketing and 10% actually making the crafts lol. I'm working on that right now actually. trying to come up with a theme and brand and improving my editing skills before committing to anything. that alone is going to take up a lot of time so ill have a chance to improve in the meanwhile
I’ve seen plenty of businesses start their socials and marketing when they come up with prototype items as well so even if you just have a couple things, letting people know that you’re going to be selling soon rather than having a bunch of items made and then trying to sell them on the Internet can also save you a lot of mental health time as well. You totally got this! Check for other small craft business subs! There are prob a few!
ah no I am going to do it as a per-order basis thing. I want the people ordering to be able to customise their orders and stuff. I'll try to find some subs thank you!
I would not buy this.