Fluffy, furry yarns can transform your crochet item into something that doesn’t look crocheted at all. The fur hides the iconic crochet stitches, giving it the appearance of a store bought toy (or just something luxurious and plush!).

With fluffy yarn, you do not have to limit yourself to just one thing. You can make anything from fluffy yarn from earmuffs shaped like bears to a sweet, lovable kitty.

Fluffy yarn can also be used to add soft textures to items, such as the lining for a cardigan, or using it as a point of interest such as the spikes on the back of a dragon amigurumi. You can use it for almost anything!

It is quite tempting to grab the softest, fluffiest yarn you see in the store, but please keep in mind that fluffy or faux fur yarn is not beginner friendly. It’s great for covering mistakes, but more mistakes can and will happen while you use it.

It is very difficult to work with, even when you’re an experienced crocheter. It will get easier with practice, but it will never be as easy as non-fluffy yarn.

If you’re still wanting to take the dive into working with fluffy yarns, especially when it comes to amigurumi, I have created a guide to help you out! I recommend becoming a confident crocheter before attempting to work with fluffy yarns.

Basics

The fluffy yarn, also known as faux fur yarn, that I will be talking about is not yarn that is made using animals. It’s faux or fake fur yarn made out of polyester.

It’s typically a bulky (5) or super bulky (6) yarn weight. You may find yourself sizing up your hook in order to lessen your frustration while working with it!

Be careful when sizing up your hook when working on a fluffy amigurumi; you may not be able to see the holes, but they are still there. Feel with your fingers to make sure the holes are not unnecessarily big.

As a general rule, if you can stick your finger into a hole without much resistance, the holes are too big. You will most likely need to downsize your hook (if it is an amigurumi).

Most of the fluffy yarns are machine washable, but make sure you check your care labels when selecting a yarn. I find that most fluffy yarns are fairly sturdy, but they are usually not as sturdy as acrylic yarns. 

While you can crochet with it by itself, you might find it helpful to use an acrylic yarn that’s a similar color in order to see the stitches better. You won’t want to use a thicker yarn, since that may take away from the fluffiness of the yarn.

If you are too rough with fluffy yarn, it will snap. If you are weaving in the ends or using it for sewing, you want to be careful with it.

It’s sturdier than chenille yarns, but it’s still not the best sewing yarn. Your ideal sewing yarn would be an acrylic yarn that’s close in color to the fur yarn and hidden easily.

My personal go-to brand is Lion Brand Go For Faux. I have an entire review about it, and I have worked quite a few of my fluffy yarn patterns using it!

Fluffy vs Chenille

These yarns, while both soft and fuzzy, are completely different. You can usually tell what is fluffy/fur yarn and what is chenille yarn just by a glance.

Fluffy yarns typically have a thick base with tufts of fluff connected to one side. Length of fur varies but is generally longer than chenille fluff.

Chenille yarns have a thin core strand with fuzz wrapped all around the strand. It is generally short and incredibly soft.

You will be able to see the stitch definitions better with chenille yarns (although it can still be difficult). Fluffy yarns are known for hiding all the stitches and can be a challenge for even the most seasoned crocheter.

Like the idea of using chenille yarn but need help starting? You can find more tips and tricks for using chenille yarn specifically in one of my other foolproof guides.

Fluffy vs Eyelash

Once fluffy yarns drop down to a fingering (2) or lace (1) weight and loses its fuzzy, furry softness, it becomes something known as eyelash yarn. While that’s not exactly how eyelash comes to be, it’s quite similar to fluffy yarn.

In terms of using it, it has the same difficulty. Because of how much smaller and thinner it is, and how unruly the ‘eyelashes’ can be, it can be challenging to work with.

However, I like the uniqueness of eyelash yarn! It makes for some lovely embellishments you can’t get with regular yarns. It has an interesting texture as well.

You can use it for hair if you need a frizzy look. I have found that it’s actually quite fun to use either eyelash or fluffy yarn for ponytails or braids with my dolls.

General Tips

Use your hands, not your eyes

You can’t see the stitches no matter how practiced you are. The fluff is way too long and gets in the way.

Feeling for the stitches is the best way to work with fluffy yarn. You will want to pinch and wiggle your fingers back and forth until you get the feel of the two loops of the stitch and the little hole right underneath them.

Make sure you aren’t stretching the holes out too much. While you can’t see the stitches, they are still there, and you want to make sure the stuffing stays inside!

As you get more and more used to fluffy yarn, you might be able to see the stitches better. However, it won’t ever be as easy as acrylic yarn. You may find yourself feeling for the stitches to make sure you didn’t miss one and that it’s actually one stitch.

In my personal opinion, working in rows is a whole lot easier than working in rounds. You do not have to worry about the holes being too big or the stuffing falling out if there is none!

Unlike chenille, its shedding is tolerable!

In my experience, while fluffy yarn is a lot harder to work with than chenille, it doesn’t shed as much. It has a thicker base than chenille yarn and the fur is typically longer, which allows it to retain its fluff.

However, if you continuously frog your mistakes, it will begin to cause friction which, in turn, will cause excess shedding. It is not a hardy yarn. Pulling on it too roughly will cause it to snap.

Frogging will cause shedding. If you can somehow work your pattern without needing to frog, this will minimize the shedding!

Chain 2 Method

The adjustable, magic ring is perfect for acrylic yarn. For fluffy yarn, it’s nearly impossible to work. You tug too hard, and the yarn snaps! You can’t see the ring or the stitches, so you give up before you even start.

Thankfully, there’s another way: the chain 2 method! You won’t have to worry about a massive hole being noticed when the fluff will hide it for you!

To start it off, you will chain 2 with the yarn. From there, in that first chain, you will work all your six or eight or whatever number of beginning stitches and continue like normal.

Normally, when you use this method with acrylic yarn (sometimes even with chenille), it leaves a gaping hole that anyone and everyone can see. With fluffy yarn, however, it’s completely hidden.

If you’re worried about the stuffing slipping out, use the yarn tail to sew the hole together like you would with a magic circle. Make sure to be careful when you are tugging it closed!

If you tug it too much and it snaps, you might need to frog your item and redo it. If you did the chain 2 method, it should keep your item from unraveling since there is no adjustable magic ring, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Counting is overrated

My personal opinion with crochet is that as long as it looks good, it’s perfectly fine! I know when I started crocheting, I discovered I had lost all my how-to-count-correctly abilities.

Missing a stitch here or there isn’t the end of the world. As long as you’re in the ballpark of the number of stitches you need, you’ll be just fine. If things get a little wonky, that’s nothing a bit of extra stuffing can’t fix.

Truthfully, you do not want to work on something that involves specific, intricate shaping with fluffy yarn. All that hard work will just be covered by the fur anyway.

Fluffle the Bear is one of the best patterns for working with fluffy yarn. It’s very forgiving and only uses basic circles to work with, so you won’t need to worry about counting. 

Stitch markers, stitch markers, stitch markers!

If you need to make sure you have the correct number of stitches and do not want to wing it, use a plethora of stitch markers! Marking every stitch, every other stitch, or every fifth stitch is a great way of making sure you’re still on track.

If you do not have any fancy stitch markers, bobby pins and paper clips work just as well. You can even use snippings of a contrasting yarn color and slip it in the stitches to mark them.

Feel with your fingers to make sure you are not inserting two stitch markers into the same stitch. You won’t want to accidentally double up!

Keeping your fluffiness to the max

You may be crocheting along with your fluffy yarn after finally gotten your groove down. You pause and realize that one side of your project is softer and fluffier than the other side.

It’s completely fine to flip your project to the side you like best! If you would rather not do that, or if you have a specific side you need on the outside, you can always work in the front or back loop only.

Working in the FLO will leave you a slight ridge on the wrong side you can use to count your rows, which is a huge plus! However, you will need to keep in mind that working in FLO will make your item taller.

Working in BLO will give you a slight ridge on the right side of your work. It will also leave those unworked loops about as fluffy as they were in the skein. Just like working in FLO, working in BLO will make your item taller.

If you need some help with differentiating between FLO and BLO, I have a whole how-to tutorial with pictures! It is centered around using yarns where you can see the stitches easily, but the general guide is helpful for all yarns.

Have patience!

Because of how challenging this yarn can be, you will need a plethora of patience to get through a project, especially if it is completely in fluffy yarn.

You won’t be able to speed through while working with fluffy yarn. Slow down, take your time. Put that show you have been meaning to finish or an audiobook you have been wanting to listen to on in the background.

I know it can be frustrating when something doesn’t work out for the first couple times. If you need to step back and take a break, go ahead and do so. It’s okay to take your time.

You do not need to jump right into the biggest, fluffiest project either. Make some mittens, some bearmuffs, or even just add a lining to a different project!

Crochet was never meant to be a fast craft. You don’t need to rush. 😊 This world is already so focused on getting things done in a quick manner.

Projects can take a couple hours or a few years to complete. It is okay to work at your own pace!