I’ve never used chenille yarn before, but I had a few projects in mind for a little girl turning 5 where I wanted the fluffy, soft, buttery texture I thought a chenille yarn could provide. So, I kind of went crazy buying yarn online at Michaels 🤪
Here’s a written review with photos. Be sure to scroll down to watch the video I filmed of me using this yarn so you can see the yarn live in action!
Yarn Information
- Brand: Loops & Threads
- Product: Skinny Chenille™
- Retailer: Michaels
- Link: https://www.michaels.com/product/skinny-chenille-yarn-by-loops-threads-10737212
- Weight: Medium (4)
- Fiber Content: 100% polyester
- Colors: 11 colors, basically every color of the rainbow in a pastel hue plus white, cream, and gray.
- Skein Weight: 8.75 oz. / 250 g
- Yardage: 524 yd. / 480 m
- Suggested Knitting Needle: 6.5 mm, US – 10.5, Knitting Gauge: 14 sts – 18 rows = 4″ (10 cm)
- Suggested Crochet Hook: 6.5 mm, US – K/10.5
- Price: $9.99 (this is the yarn at full price, but for Michaels, I always recommend to never pay full price. There will always be a coupon or a sale that applies)
Yarn Review
I was at first shocked at how LARGE the skeins are! It didn’t click with me that 524 yards of yarn is, erm, a LOT.
So it’s a great choice if you have a large project! I had a unicorn mermaid theme in mind for my projects (that’ll be for the next blog post), so the color selection of this chenille yarn was perfect for me.
Softness and Texture of This Yarn
The unicorn mermaid items I’m making are an amigurumi and wall hangings for a child, so I had a soft yarn in mind. These did not disappoint at all! They were perfect for it — soft, fluffy, and thick.
I did crochet and knit swatches and the first thing I noticed was how smooth this yarn is. It is very nice to work with. A big plus with working with this chenille yarn is that the yarn doesn’t split (a common problem I run into when I’m knitting with certain yarns) due to the lack of plies.
Usage and Experience
One odd part of the experience I came across is that sometimes normally very round yarn would go flat like this:
It didn’t show up in the final product, but it did make it slightly inconvenient to pull the yarn through with my crochet hook at times.
During my projects, I came across one knot where it was clear that two ends were tied together, and another part that was thick and hard (as if two ends had been fused together maybe?). But I am kind of shocked I didn’t run into any more of those instances, considering how large the skeins are. I have not used up even half the skeins, so hopefully I don’t run into many more knots!
Note on Stitch Definition
The stitch definition is clear when you use the recommended size hooks or needles. I would say it’s still clear even if you go slightly lower. When doing amigurumi and using a smaller hook size, you’ll have more trouble seeing stitches with the lighter colors.
Negatives / Cons
I’ll list probably the easy and most common first, which is that the little fibers that create the chenille texture of this yarn can fluff off or get pulled off. This happens if you’re frogging too many times (guilty) or using the yarn to sew thereby rubbing the same length of yarn between other sections of yarn often (for example, sewing an arm to the body of an amigurumi toy).
I also pulled off fluff with my own fingers by accident when trying to undo knots (knots I created myself and wanted to move later). This is the first chenille yarn I’ve ever used, but I would assume all chenille yarns are prone to this.
Now, for the big big con, the thing that got me really really frustrated on multiple occasions: the inside of this yarn is a big (or two big!!) knots in most cases. I say “most” because out of the 8 that I got, maybe 2 were successful and easy center pulls.
The others were tough where I pulled out a huge hard chunk and had to wind into its own ball of yarn (the orange cake next to the orange skein in the image way above was made with a yarn winder after I pulled a huge knotty chunk out) or I pulled out what I thought was a center pull but in reality it was the yarn from the outside, simply stuffed into the inside.
This is a warning to center-pullers that it won’t be easy to do that with these skeins!!
In general though, some of these skeins have been through the ringer apparently. I received some that were quite… handled and roughed up.
Summary and Final Thoughts
I tried to block my pieces, but it didn’t really work at all as my wall hangings were still rumply after. I am not sure if that is to be expected using this type of yarn or if it was my technique.
Despite my anger at the skein construction, I would absolutely recommend you check out this yarn if you haven’t already! I have so much yarn left that I will definitely be using this yarn again. Check out the video below to supplement this review. I’ll also link here when I write my blog post on the items I made – stay tuned!
