WeCrochet - $50 Yay Crochet Kit - Review

 Surprisingly, I did not know about the WeCrochet website or magazine until fairly recently, during my search for crochet kits to review. You'd think that, with a website that is literally crochet.com, WeCrochet would be a company I was familiar with...

In order to learn more and explore what they have to offer, I purchased their $50 Yay Crochet kit (along with two additional kits that will be reviewed separately...once I finish them).

The $50 Yay Crochet kit is, as the name suggests, a $50 kit that includes 7 different WeCrochet branded items (if you count each ball of yarn as an item, then you get 9 items). The retail value of the kit is $108.91, but that is if you purchase all the items at full price. I believe WeCrochet runs a lot of sales/deals, so you're more likely to pay a bit less than that if you bought everything separately. 

I was mostly interested in this kit for the magazines and the hook set, and those items make up most of the value. Included in this kit are Issues 1 and 2 and, at the time I purchased my kit, they were the only two magazines available. 

WeCrochet currently has two more magazines, Issue 3 (Summer 2020; this one might actually have been available when I made my purchase, but I don't remember seeing it) and Issue 4 (Fall 2020); these can also be purchased separately or as part of their own WeCrochet kits. I would actually recommend those kits, the Summer 2020 Yay Crochet and Fall 2020 Yay Crochet (though that one is sold out right now) over this kit just due to the more interesting and, I feel, useful items.

The WeCrochet magazines retail for $14.99 individually (currently on sale for $11.24), which I think is reasonable for specialty magazine of this quality. They feel more similar to paperback books than traditional newsstand magazines (thick covers and thick paper), and have limited-to-no advertising (and only of their own brand/products from what I can see).

The patterns included in these magazines are also similar to most other crochet magazines I've collected in the past; accessories and clothing items that lean more 'traditional' in style. I'm more interested in amigurumi and more quirky accessories and clothing, but the patterns can be helpful starting points. I find it interesting that the magazines seem so 'traditional', while WeCrochet actually has a lot of much more niche, 'quirky' designs, including cute plushies and clothing (like a big stuffed unicorn and cactus-themed beret). I suppose they want to magazines to appeal to the broadest audience.

Sorry for the potato picture; the WeCrochet Mosaic Regular Crochet Hook Set was tricky to photograph since I didn't want to remove them from their plastic holder. This photo is with the additional outside package, but it ended up having less glare and being easier to see than the photo of the hooks just in the holder...

This is a wooden hook set with US sizes E-4, F-5, G-6, 7, H-8, I-9, J-10, and K-10.5. The hooks are made out of laminated birch and come in three alternating colors, purple/blue, green/blue, and orange/red/purple.

This set retails for $41.99, and is currently full price. $42 isn't an unreasonable amount for an 8 hook set, but I'm not really into these hooks, unfortunately, and would recommend trying a different set or, at the very least, getting these on sale/as part of a kit like this if you do want to try them out.

My biggest issue is that hooks aren't labelled what size they are; the plastic packaging is labelled, and the hooks do alternate in color, but you would have to memorize the color order. It wouldn't be so bad if the packaging was a nice case, but it's a flat, plastic holder with a piece of cardboard for the size info. Plus, the plastic makes the hooks smell kind of weird.

I also don't really like this style of hook anymore; I've been using hooks with cushioned/thicker handles for such a long time now that these hooks just aren't comfortable anymore. Also also, I much prefer metal hooks for their durability and slip (not too much, not too little); the bigger hooks in this set feel quite solid and sturdy, and all the hooks are smooth with well-defined cuts, but the smaller hooks feel a little flimsy/bendable.

The yarn included in this kit are three 50g balls of the WeCrochet/KnitPicks Palette fingering weight yarn in Black. This is a 100% Peruvian Highland Wool yarn and, for being a wool that is not Merino, it's fairly soft, though it does have a bit of stiffness. This yarn retails for $3.99 per 50g ball.

Fingering weight yarn is good for things like shawls, and I can see this yarn being useful as such since a shawl made with it would be warm, but still lightweight. I understand why they chose to include black as it's a pretty universal color and can be used in a lot of designs, but black yarn can be difficult to crochet with in low light as it's a lot more difficult to see your stitches. I actually try to avoid crocheting anything black/dark after the sun sets since my house doesn't have the best lighting.

The next item in this kit is a WeCrochet branded Colorblock Pouch (the website calls it a 'Zippered Pouch - Aqua & Sparkle Silver'). This item retails for $8.99 which...yeah, I suppose. I wouldn't buy this item individually for that price, but it is a nice bag (it's a bit shorter, but a lot taller, than a regular pencil pouch) for keeping crochet supplies in while traveling. 

It feels well-constructed, though the pleathery upper kind of worries me since pleather wears/gets damaged so easily. The inside feels like it would be easy to clean, and overall the pouch feels like it would keep the items inside safe from almost anything they would encounter in a purse, backpack, tote, or luggage. I've seen pouches like this for sale during Back-to-School supplies shopping for about the same price, and the crochet hook pattern on the inside is cute, so I'm happy to have it.

The next to last item in this kit is a linen drawstring project bag with a cute, punny design. These bags are great for carrying around projects, or for storing and hiding away UFOs (unfinished objects)... The fabric is much more eco-conscious and reusable than plastic, and they feel more sanitary to me since they let your yarn/project 'breathe'. They won't protect against anything major, though, especially water-related incidents, so you do still have to be careful.

This bag retails for $7.99, and is another item that I wouldn't pay retail price for. It's very thin (it is linen), and I'm more accustom to project bags that are made out of canvas, which are sturdier and will protect your project better. The linen, though, is lighter-weight, so it won't add much bulk if space economy is an issue.

Finally, we have the Yay Crochet enamel pin! This pin is exclusive to the Yay Crochet kits (though it doesn't matter which one as I think it's included in all of them) and cannot be purchased separately. Similar enamel pins retail for around $7.99, so I'll assume that's what this one is worth, as well.

This pin is a sparkly green ball of yarn with a cute little smiley face and a crochet hook...piercing it's head/body. Hmm. Jokes aside, I do think this is a cute pin, and it's nice to know that purchasing a Yay Crochet kit is the only way to get it.

And that's the WeCrochet $50 Yay Crochet kit! I don't think this is a bad kit, but compared to their two newest Yay Crochet kits, the Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 ones, it's not the best on offer in my opinion, even if the total 'retail value' and 'savings' are higher. If you are interested in this kit, please look at those other two kits first to see if they interest you more, especially since they include some of the same items.

I think WeCrochet has a lot of interesting products and bundles to offer; I am especially interested in the Brava yarn line after working with it as part of another WeCrochet kit I bought, so I will likely be purchasing again from them in the future!

<3 Thank you for reading!