People are always on the lookout for yarns with natural fibers. These yarns tend to be expensive, especially if made with organic wool or cotton.

While Coboo doesn’t have the ability to claim that it’s made with organic cotton and rayon from bamboo, that doesn’t mean that it’s just as bad as your cheap acrylic. Acrylic is made out of plastics, which is unfortunate since it is one of the most affordable yarns on the market.

Coboo is a light worsted (3) weight yarn that is made up of cotton and rayon from bamboo fibers, giving it a more natural rating that your typical acrylic. It comes in 232-yarded cakes at $5.99 each with 24 colors to choose from.

While it’s not one of your cheapest yarns on the market, it’s not overly expensive either. Most of the time, Coboo is on sale, so you might get it for closer to $4 (in my own experience).

With the sturdiness of cotton and the drape of rayon from bamboo, this yarn is great for adding a bit of pizzazz to your wardrobe. Its colors are a bit on the darker side, which help it accent your clothing without being an explosion of color.

Lion Brand Coboo Breakdown

Price	$5.99
Yardage	232 yards
Price/yard	$0.03
Number of Colorways	24
Weight	Light Worsted / DK (3)
Fiber Content	51% cotton, 49% rayon from bamboo
Care	Machine wash & dry
How does it feel?	Soft with a slight roughness of cotton

I don’t think Coboo is totally as well-known as its sister, Truboo, which is a 100% rayon from bamboo yarn. It doesn’t have as many color selection, and I have found it harder to find in-store, which leads me to assume that it’s not that popular.

I think it should be a bit more popular because it’s a great yarn! The combination of cotton and rayon from bamboo initially put me off, but it actually works up nicely.

I’m not a big fan of granny squares (or hexagons), but working with yarn actually made it fun for me. I don’t know what about this yarn made it fun, but it just did. Weird, huh?

This may seem like I’m putting it down when I say that it’s a duller yarn (when compared to Truboo), but I promise I don’t mean it in a negative way. The fibers just happen to combine to create a darker yarn.

The cotton fibers naturally don’t have a sheen to it, unlike rayon from bamboo, and the color choices are darker as well. However, I like the color choices, and they work great for when you’re looking for less of a statement piece.

If you’re wondering about sustainability when it comes to bamboo yarn, I go over that gray area in my Truboo review. To sum it up, while raw bamboo is a sustainable fiber, the process to turn it into yarn is extremely harmful to the environment.

My experience using this yarn!

I raved about how much I like working with Truboo in my review of it. With Coboo, a blend of cotton and bamboo and made by the same company, I had high hopes for it.

I want to preface this by letting you know that I have not worked extensively with cotton yarn. I have only worked with one 100% cotton yarn (Sugar’n Cream), and I didn’t really enjoy it.

I went into using Coboo remembering the heavenly silkiness of bamboo yarn and forgetting about the rough inelasticity of cotton. Coboo’s majority is cotton, so that was my mistake of having the wrong idea when I went into it.

Unwashed cotton yarn is not a soft fiber, at least from my experience with cotton yarns. Bamboo is a silkily soft fiber. Pairing a rough fiber with a soft fiber was an interesting choice, in my opinion.

Right off the bat, I didn’t really like working with it. The roughness of the cotton was softened because of the bamboo portion, but I could clearly tell that it was mostly cotton. If you have any sort of sensitivities to the texture of cotton yarn, this yarn might not work for you.

After working with it for an extensive amount of time, I found the texture does soften a bit. It might just be me getting used to it, but it was easier to work with the longer I used it.

I ended up liking it after crocheting with it for a few hours. I definitely would pick up this yarn again. The color choices were nice, but I like Truboo’s larger and brighter collection more.

Because Coboo is made up of two different fibers, it splits easily. Since cotton catches on itself, it doesn’t split nearly as much as Truboo, but I still had splitting issues throughout my project.

When you cut the ends of it, fraying does happen a little bit. This is most likely from the cotton, as I didn’t have any fraying issues with Truboo. However, it wasn’t as bad as some yarns.

However, while I often put cotton down, cotton yarns will always be incredibly sturdy. Coboo has the same sturdiness as any fully cotton yarn would have, with the added bonus of bamboo yarn drape.

My plan is to make a pillow cover with it, since it has the soft and cool bamboo paired with sturdy, washable cotton. It’s going to take a few cakes of it, since this is a small yarn in terms of cakes and fiber size.

Overall, this yarn was okay. It’s not the best, but it’s a far cry from the worst. Of course, these are just my opinions, so don’t let me sway you away from it if you really like it!

Coboo vs Truboo

Both yarns are incredibly similar to each other. At a glance, without any labels or anything, the two are indistinguishable, barring the differences in color.

Coboo, because of its cotton fibers, is a bit denser than Truboo. It doesn’t really take away from its gauge, so items made with Truboo will be nearly the same size as items made with Coboo.

Truboo has a better drape, but Coboo is more sturdy. Cotton is inelastic, which helps Coboo items keep their shape better than Truboo items.

Both yarns work up breathable items which are great for summer clothing. Coboo could also work for autumn wearables, since it’s a denser yarn and retains more heat than Truboo.

Coboo has a smaller collection of colors, with only 24 colors to choose from. They tend to be darker with less of a sheen than Truboo’s 32 choices.

My personal favorite out of the two has to be Truboo. It is softer than Coboo and is almost as close to silk as you can get, at least in an opinion from a person who has never touched pure silk before.

If you like darker colors, or are needing your item to keep its shape, I would recommend going with Coboo over Truboo.

If you like brighter colors with a little bit of shininess or need a lovely drape, I would recommend Truboo over Coboo.

What should you use this yarn for?

As mentioned above, Coboo helps its items hold their shape while allowing for a little bit of drape. It is just a tad bit heavier than a normal light weight yarn.

That being said, it can be used for practically anything. I would personally recommend using it for wearables, pillow covers, or other functional items.

Shawls are one of the more popular items made with Coboo, since it combines sturdiness and drapability. Two of the best things for a shawl!

As with any yarn, you could use it for amigurumi as well if you so wish. It would help amigurumi hold its shape without that rough, cotton-y look or feel.

What yarns can I substitute for Coboo?

Since it’s a yarn that is made up of two different natural fibers, these yarn substitutions may not be exact in terms of fibers. Your best bet in terms of substitutions will be Truboo, another bamboo yarn by Lion Brand that is 100% rayon from bamboo.

The closest match I could find is Baby Silky by Ice Yarns. It’s made up of 52% cotton and 48% rayon from bamboo. It’s an incredibly close match!

It’s a light worsted (3) yarn with 264 yards per skein. On their website, each skein is listed as $2.12, but you can only buy them in packs of four skeins, so the true price ends up being $8.49. Keep that in mind if you decide to buy any Ice yarns.

3 Free Coboo Patterns!

Next to You Shawl

Coboo is practically made for shawls. It’s perfect for it, so why not try out this lovely shawl pattern?

This shawl has a difficulty of easy, but I would recommend skimming through the entire pattern before attempting it. Sometimes even the easiest shawls can be difficult, so don’t be afraid to ask question or research different parts of it!

Maria Top

Looking to up your granny square skill? Check out this awesome top that is made top-down! WHo says granny squares can’t be cool?

This top is great for this splitty yarn since granny square stitches work in the large chain gaps instead of the stitches itself. Working into a large gap helps lessen the accidental snags on any loose strands and lessens frustration.

V-Stitch Cardi

Coboo doesn’t come in large cakes, which can be annoying since it’s already a light weight yarn. However, this pattern takes that into consideration.

Using a stitch that doesn’t eat up yarn like most stitches, this cardigan is great for beginners and advanced crocheters alike. There’s a written and a video pattern for both kinds of visual learners. Take your pick!

Commonly Asked Questions

What does Coboo mean?

Cotton + bamboo = coboo! Made up of both fibers, Lion Brand combined cotton and bamboo to create another choice in their bamboo yarn line.

Are bamboo yarns good for socks?

Socks need to be made with elastic yarn, which is usually a combination of wool or nylon and another fiber. As long as the yarn has some sort of wool, nylon, or other elastic yarn, it will work for socks.

Since Coboo is made up of 51% cotton, which is very inelastic, it is not a good yarn for socks. Truboo wouldn’t be either.

How do you keep the weaved-in ends from unraveling?

Coboo is naturally slick, thanks to its rayon from bamboo fibers. While the cotton fibers allow for some drag, sometimes weaving in ends and hoping they stay there can be a pain!

My first recommendation is to leave an extra long end to weave in. The more yarn you weave in, the less likely it will unravel.

The more directions you go in, the more it will stay put. With the granny hexagons I made, I made sure to leave a long end and I wove those ends until they were practically going around the entire hexagon three times!

My second recommendation is to use a little bit of fabric glue. Built for fabric, it helps pin down those feisty ends and keeps them from moving.

However, it is glue, so if you have a bunch of ends to weave it, I wouldn’t recommend this. You don’t want to go overboard and ruin your item with too many glue spots!

My third recommendation is to tie your ends together. If you’re using multiple colors, weave in one color close to the second color then tie those together and hide the knot within a tall stitch, such as a double crochet.

After you tie them, I would still recommend weaving those ends into your item anyway. With that extra precaution, your ends are less likely to unravel completely.

If all else fails, get those loose ends to the edges of your project and crochet a border around it, weaving in the ends as you crochet! It’s less weaving you’ll need to do, but more crocheting. Some projects might not allow for a border, but it’s a good thing to keep in mind if you ever need it.