Buying decisions
Crochet kits for beginners (UK): 19 kits compared
A beginner crochet kit in the UK cost between £7 and £45 on 2 October 2026 across the 19 kits we compared, and only 10 of them include a hook at the price shown. Check the stitch names too: four kits use US terms, one gives both, five use names that read as UK, and nine don’t say. We haven’t bought or made these kits, so this is a comparison of what each seller lists, with links to every page. If you’d rather build your own set, a 4mm hook, three balls of Stylecraft Special DK, stitch markers, a needle and scissors came to £16.42 at Wool Warehouse.
The kits side by side
The table lists 19 kits sold to UK buyers by Stitch & Story, Wool Couture, The Woobles, Wool and the Gang, Hobbycraft and LoveCrafts. Each price is the one on the seller’s own page on 2 October 2026, before delivery. Where a kit comes with or without a hook, we used the price with the hook. Prices and stock change, so check the link before you order.
Price per 100g is the kit price divided by the grams of yarn the seller lists, times 100. It only works where the listing gives grams, so five kits have no figure. The number includes everything else in the box, such as the pattern, stuffing or a workshop, so a high figure isn’t automatically poor value. It does show how much of the price is yarn.
The Learn to Crochet Box appears on both Stitch & Story and Wool Couture at £29.99 with the same contents, so it has one row. We left out Amazon, which we couldn’t check reliably, and kits whose listings didn’t give enough detail to compare.
| Kit (shop) | Makes | Price | Yarn included | Hook | Other tools | Instructions | Terms | Level | Per 100g of yarn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Learn to Crochet Box (Stitch & Story; Wool Couture) | Scarf or hat and cowl, plus hen and chick or Scandi bag | £29.99 | 3 × 100g chunky + 4 × 25g The Big Cotton Yarn (400g) | 5.5mm, 10mm and 12mm, included | Wide-eye needle, 15g stuffing | Printed manual, 5 patterns, online club or workshop | Probably UK | Beginner | £7.50 |
| Absolute Beginners Cowl (Wool Couture) | Cowl, 24 × 43cm | £18.99 | 2 × 100g The Jumbo Yarn, wool, 30m per 100g | 16mm, not included (£7) | Wide-eye needle | Manual, pattern, free workshop | Probably UK | Beginner | £9.50 |
| Hen & Chick (Wool Couture) | Two toy hens, 11cm and 8cm tall | £14.99 | 3 × 25g The Big Cotton Yarn, cotton aran, 40m per 25g, plus oddments | 5.5mm, not included | 15g stuffing, wide-eye needle | Manual, pattern, free workshop | Probably UK | Beginner | £19.99 |
| Beginner Scarf (Wool Couture) | Scarf, 183 × 22cm | £22.99 | 3 × 100g Beautifully Basic or Bright, acrylic and wool, super chunky | 10mm, not included (£5) | Tapestry needle | Manual, pattern, free workshop | Probably UK | Beginner | £7.66 |
| My First Cushion (Wool Couture) | Cushion cover, 32 × 32cm | £22.99 | 3 × 100g Beautifully Bright, 90% acrylic 10% wool, 75m per 100g | 12mm, not included (£5) | Tapestry needle; cushion pad not included | Manual, pattern, free workshop | Probably UK | Beginner | £7.66 |
| Beginners Hat, Harper (Stitch & Story) | Hat, 54–59cm head | £24.99 with hook (£19.99 without) | 2 × 100g The Chunky Wool (or The Melange, by colour), merino, 65m per 100g | 12mm bamboo | Sewing needle | Pattern, online video tutorials | Not stated | Beginner | £12.50 |
| Phoenix Beginners Scarf (Stitch & Story) | Scarf, 35 × 150cm | £43.99 with hook (£39 without) | 4 × 100g The Chunky Wool (or The Melange, by colour), merino, 65m per 100g | 12mm bamboo | Sewing needle | Pattern, online video tutorials | Not stated | Beginner | £11.00 |
| Rumi Bear (Stitch & Story) | Toy bear, 18cm tall | £19.99 with hook (£15.99 without) | 3 × 25g The Cotton One, cotton, plus contrast yarn | 4.5mm bamboo | Stuffing, sewing needle | Pattern, online video tutorials | Not stated | Advanced beginner | £26.65 |
| Pierre the Penguin (The Woobles UK site) | Toy penguin, 11.4cm tall | £24 | Easy Peasy Yarn, amount not stated | 4mm ergonomic, included | Stuffing, eyes, yarn needle, stitch markers; pre-started | Video tutorials, PDF pattern, email help | US | Beginner, 12+ | – |
| Sweet Intuition Scarf (Wool and the Gang) | Scarf, 23 × 200cm | £45 on sale (was £60) | 3 × 200g Crazy Sexy Wool, wool, 80m per 200g | 15mm, optional (£6) | Sewing needle, sew-in label | Pattern in English, French or German | US | Beginner | £7.50 |
| Late Night Cushion (Wool and the Gang) | Cushion cover, 35 × 35cm | From £42 | 2 × 100g Ra-Ra Raffia, wood fibre, 250m per 100g | 4.5mm, optional (£6) | Sewing needle; cushion pad not included | Pattern | US | Beginner | £21.00 |
| Crochet Creations Kit (Hobbycraft) | Snail, bee and bunny | £10 | Seven colours, amount not stated | 3mm, included | 20g stuffing | 24-page book | US, with conversion table | Not stated | – |
| Trimits Beginner’s Amigurumi Lion (Hobbycraft) | Toy lion, 8 × 9cm | £10 | 68% cotton 32% nylon, amount not stated | 4mm aluminium, soft grip, included | Stitch markers, needle, eyes, filling; pre-started | Instructions, video by QR code | Not stated | Beginner | – |
| Oh My Craft! Colin Cow (Hobbycraft) | Plush cow | £7 | Plushie yarn, amount not stated | Included, size not stated | 2 stitch markers, eyes, stuffing; pre-started | 16-page booklet | Not stated | Beginner | – |
| DMC Mindful Making Comforting Blanket (LoveCrafts) | Blanket, 90 × 90cm | £30 | 6 balls acrylic, listed as “(100g)”, read as 100g each | 6.5mm, included | Sewing needle | Step-by-step instructions | Not stated | Described as simple | £5.00 |
| DMC Mindful Making Mandala Coasters (LoveCrafts) | Coasters, 12cm | £20 | 4 balls DMC Baby Cotton, listed as “(20g)” | 3.5mm, included | Sewing needle, 10 stitch markers | Step-by-step instructions | Not stated | Beginner-friendly | – |
| Paintbox Yarns Lola the Ladybird (LoveCrafts) | Toy ladybird | £7.02 on sale (was £7.80) | 3 × 100g Simply DK, acrylic, 276m per 100g | 3mm, not included | None; filling not included | PDF pattern | Not stated | Not stated | £2.34 |
| Paintbox Yarns Mollie the Bunny (LoveCrafts) | Toy bunny with T-shirt | £12.38 on sale (was £13.75) | 5 × 50g Paintbox Yarns Cotton Aran | 4.5mm, not included | None; eyes and stuffing not included | PDF pattern | Not stated | Not stated | £4.95 |
| Debbie Bliss Classic Crochet Teddy Bear (LoveCrafts) | Teddy with jumper | £24.70 on sale (was £26), out of stock in all five colourways | 4 × 50g Rialto DK, extrafine merino | 4mm, not included | None; stuffing not included | PDF pattern | UK and US | Not stated | £12.35 |
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What’s in a good kit
A hook, first. Ten of the 19 kits include one at the price shown, three of them Stitch & Story kits where we used the with-hook option. Wool Couture’s four single-project kits list the hook as optional and sell it separately at £5 for 10mm or 12mm and £7 for 16mm. Wool and the Gang sells the 15mm hook for its scarf kit and the 4.5mm hook for its cushion kit at £6 each. The three LoveCrafts yarn kits from Paintbox Yarns and Debbie Bliss contain only yarn and a PDF pattern, so you need your own hook and stuffing, plus safety eyes or yarn for the faces.
Then a stated amount of yarn. Fourteen listings give the grams. The Woobles, the Hobbycraft Crochet Creations Kit, the Trimits lion and the Oh My Craft cow don’t, and DMC’s coaster kit lists “4 balls of Baby Cotton yarn (20g)” without saying whether that’s each or in total. DMC’s blanket kit uses the same wording, “6 balls of acrylic yarn (100g)”; we’ve read that as 100g a ball, which fits a 90cm blanket better than 100g in total. Only four kit pages give metres, so for the rest we took metres from the same shop’s yarn page.
Then help you can watch. Ten kits come with video or a live session: Stitch & Story and Wool Couture point to online tutorials or a free beginner workshop, The Woobles has step-by-step videos, and the Trimits kit links a video by QR code. The other nine rely on a printed booklet or a PDF. Three amigurumi kits, from The Woobles, Trimits and Oh My Craft, arrive pre-started, so the fiddly beginning is done for you.
The UK vs US terms trap
UK and US patterns use the same stitch names for different stitches. A UK double crochet (US single crochet) is the short basic stitch, and a UK treble (US double crochet) is the taller one. Follow a US pattern with UK stitches and every row comes out taller and looser than the designer meant.
Of the 19 kits, four use US terms: the Hobbycraft Crochet Creations Kit says its instructions are in US terminology with a conversion table, The Woobles names single crochet (sc) as its basic stitch, and both Wool and the Gang kits list single crochet among the skills you’ll learn. Five use names that read as UK, though none says so: the Learn to Crochet Box teaches double crochet and treble crochet, and Wool Couture’s single kits list treble or double crochet as the stitches used. Both names also exist in US terms for different stitches, so we’ve marked these “probably UK”. Debbie Bliss gives both sets in the teddy pattern. The other nine listings don’t say.
A quick test: UK crochet has no stitch called single crochet, so a pattern that uses it is in US terms. Paste the abbreviations into our US and UK terms converter at /tools/us-uk-crochet-terms-converter/ if you’re not sure.
Chunky or DK for learning
Six kits are built on super chunky yarn and a 10mm to 16mm hook: Wool Couture’s cowl, scarf and cushion, Stitch & Story’s hat and Phoenix scarf, and Wool and the Gang’s Sweet Intuition scarf. The Learn to Crochet Box adds chunky yarn for its scarf, hat and cowl. Wool Couture describes its Beautifully Bright yarn as a great starter yarn because it’s super chunky and quick to craft, and Wool and the Gang gives five hours as the time to make its scarf. The sellers pitch these kits on speed. The toy kits go the other way, with 3mm to 5.5mm hooks and cotton, DK or aran.
The yarns differ a lot in length. The chunky yarns in these kits hold 30m to 75m per 100g, against 276m for Paintbox Yarns Simply DK and 295m for Stylecraft Special DK. So Wool and the Gang’s three 200g balls hold 240m, while three 100g balls of Special DK hold 885m.
That makes chunky yarn dearer per metre. Bought loose on 2 October 2026, The Jumbo Yarn at Wool Couture worked out at £23.30 per 100m, The Chunky Wool at Stitch & Story at £13.83 and Beautifully Bright at £5.32, against 80p for Special DK. The DIY set below is built around DK on a 4mm hook.
Kit or loose yarn: what the box adds
For eight kits we priced the same yarn, and the same hook where the kit needs one, from the same shop. The kit cost £1.37 less to £11.02 more. Paintbox Yarns’ Mollie the Bunny kit was the one that came out cheaper than five loose balls of Cotton Aran at LoveCrafts. The three LoveCrafts kits were on sale, as were the loose Simply DK and Rialto DK.
The gap pays for the pattern and anything else in the box. Wool Couture’s Hen & Chick kit costs £10.52 more than three loose balls of The Big Cotton Yarn, but it also has the colour oddments, 15g of stuffing, a needle, the How To Crochet manual and the free workshop. In seven of the eight, buying loose was cheaper, so if you already have a pattern you like, loose yarn is worth pricing first.
| Kit | Kit price | Same yarn and hook loose | Difference | What else the kit adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beginner Scarf + 10mm hook (Wool Couture) | £27.99 | £16.97 (3 × Beautifully Bright £3.99 + hook £5) | +£11.02 | Pattern, manual, workshop, needle |
| Hen & Chick (Wool Couture) | £14.99 | £4.47 (3 × The Big Cotton Yarn £1.49) | +£10.52 | Oddments, stuffing, pattern, manual, workshop, needle |
| Debbie Bliss Teddy Bear (LoveCrafts) | £24.70 | £18.20 (4 × Rialto DK £4.55, on sale) | +£6.50 | PDF pattern |
| Absolute Beginners Cowl + 16mm hook (Wool Couture) | £25.99 | £20.98 (2 × The Jumbo Yarn £6.99 + hook £7) | +£5.01 | Pattern, manual, workshop, needle |
| Phoenix Scarf with hook (Stitch & Story) | £43.99 | £40.96 (4 × The Chunky Wool £8.99 + 12mm hook £5) | +£3.03 | Pattern, needle (for colours supplied in The Chunky Wool) |
| Beginners Hat with hook (Stitch & Story) | £24.99 | £22.98 (2 × The Chunky Wool £8.99 + 12mm hook £5) | +£2.01 | Pattern, needle (for colours supplied in The Chunky Wool) |
| Lola the Ladybird (LoveCrafts) | £7.02 | £5.07 (3 × Simply DK £1.69, on sale) | +£1.95 | PDF pattern |
| Mollie the Bunny (LoveCrafts) | £12.38 | £13.75 (5 × Cotton Aran £2.75) | −£1.37 | PDF pattern |
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Building your own starter set
Wool Warehouse had everything for a DK starter set on 2 October 2026. A budget version, with an aluminium Pony 4mm hook and Clover split ring markers, came to £16.42. A dearer version with a Clover Amour 4mm hook and Clover locking markers came to £24.52. Both are under Wool Warehouse’s £30 free-delivery line, so add £3.45 for standard delivery.
Three balls of Special DK give you 885m, enough to practise and still make something small. LoveCrafts lists a 4mm hook for Special DK, and our hook size finder suggests a hook from any yarn’s weight. You’ll still need a pattern, since a DIY set doesn’t come with one.
| Item | Cheapest option | Price | Dearer option | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4mm crochet hook | Pony aluminium, 15cm | £1.49 | Clover Amour | £7.09 |
| Yarn, 885m | 3 × Stylecraft Special DK, 100g, 295m | £7.05 | 3 × Stylecraft Special DK | £7.05 |
| Stitch markers | Clover split ring, pack of 24 | £3.29 | Clover locking, pack of 20 | £5.79 |
| Yarn needle | Hemline tapestry, size 18, pack of 6 | £1.09 | Hemline tapestry, size 18, pack of 6 | £1.09 |
| Scissors | Korbond general purpose, 5in | £3.50 | Korbond general purpose, 5in | £3.50 |
| Total | £16.42 | £24.52 | ||
| With standard delivery | £19.87 | £27.97 |
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Check before you move on
- Hook size listed, and either in the box or priced in
- Stitch names checked: UK double crochet and treble, or US single crochet
- Grams and metres of yarn stated on the listing
- Video or a workshop included if you learn better by watching
- Extras you still need noted, such as stuffing, eyes or a cushion pad
- Kit price compared with the same yarn bought loose
Ready to buy?
Starter basics if you build your own set
Ad · Amazon UK
ZGTS aluminium crochet hook set, 9 hooks
Nine hooks: 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0mm.
View on Amazon (paid link) ↗Ad · Amazon UK
Our pick
Four of the nine blankets in our blanket guide use Stylecraft Special DK, so our tables convert straight to its 295m balls.
Stylecraft Special DK, Charcoal (1128)
One 100g / 295m ball, 100% acrylic, sold by The Great British Yarn Company.
View on Amazon (paid link) ↗Ad · Amazon UK
YINVA locking stitch markers, pack of 150
150 plastic locking markers in mixed colours.
View on Amazon (paid link) ↗Paid links: we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. Nothing you type into our tools is added to these links. Check price, seller and delivery at Amazon. Colour swatches are approximate.
Try it with your own numbers.
The hook UK ball bands recommend for your yarn weight or yarn, in mm, US letters and old UK numbers.
Find my hook ↗Common questions
What is the best crochet kit for beginners in the UK?
Without testing them we can’t name one. On the listings alone, the Learn to Crochet Box (£29.99 at Stitch & Story and Wool Couture) is the only kit here with three hooks and five patterns, plus 400g of yarn, a manual and an online class, and its stitch names read as UK terms.
Do crochet kits come with a hook?
Not always. Ten of the 19 kits we compared include one at the price shown, three of them as a with-hook option. Wool Couture and Wool and the Gang sell the hook as an optional extra, and the Paintbox Yarns and Debbie Bliss kits at LoveCrafts contain only yarn and a pattern.
Are The Woobles kits in UK or US terms?
US. The Woobles’ tutorials name single crochet (sc) as the basic stitch, which is a UK double crochet, and its site has a US and UK abbreviations guide. The kit was £24 on its UK site on 2 October 2026.
Is it cheaper to buy a crochet kit or the bits separately?
Usually the bits. For eight kits we priced the yarn and hook loose from the same shop, and seven came out £1.95 to £11.02 dearer as a kit. A DIY DK set from Wool Warehouse cost £16.42 before delivery, but you’ll need a pattern.
What size crochet hook should a beginner buy?
Match it to the yarn. For DK, 4mm is the usual starting size, and LoveCrafts lists 4mm for both Stylecraft Special DK and Paintbox Yarns Simply DK. The chunky kits here use 10mm to 16mm hooks and the toy kits 3mm to 5.5mm.
Sources and scope
- www.stitchandstory.com/products/learn-to-knit-club-box-copy
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/learn-to-crochet-box
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/absolute-beginners-cowl-crochet-kit
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/the-hen-chick-beginner-crochet-kit
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/beginner-scarf-crochet-kit
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/beautifully-basic-cushion
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/beautifully-bright-chunky-yarn-100g-ball
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/the-big-cotton-yarn
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/the-jumbo-yarn
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/crochet-hook-10mm
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/crochet-hook-12mm
- www.woolcouturecompany.com/products/crochet-hook-16mm
- www.stitchandstory.com/products/beginners-hat-crochet-kit
- www.stitchandstory.com/products/phoenix-easy-scarf-crochet-kit
- www.stitchandstory.com/products/rumi-bear-amigurumi-crochet-kit
- www.stitchandstory.com/products/the-chunky-wool-100g-balls
- www.stitchandstory.com/products/12mm-bamboo-crochet-hook
- thewoobles.com/en-gb/products/penguin-crochet-kit
- thewoobles.com/en-gb/pages/crochet-tutorials
- www.woolandthegang.com/en/products/sweet-intuition-scarf-crochet
- www.woolandthegang.com/en/products/late-night-cushion-kit
- www.woolandthegang.com/en/products/crazy-sexy-wool
- www.hobbycraft.co.uk/crochet-creations-kit/6661361000.html
- www.hobbycraft.co.uk/trimits-beginners-amigurumi-crochet-lion-kit/6929491004.html
- www.hobbycraft.co.uk/oh-my-craft%21-colin-cow-crochet-plushie-kit/6960771000.html
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/dmc-mindful-making-the-comforting-blanket-crochet-kit-90cm-x-90cm
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/dmc-mindful-making-the-mandala-coasters-crochet-kit-12cm
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/paintbox-yarns-simply-dk-lola-the-ladybird-3-ball-crochet-kit
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/paintbox-yarns-cotton-aran-mollie-the-bunny-5-ball-crochet-kit
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/debbie-bliss-rialto-dk-classic-crochet-teddy-bear-4-ball-crochet-kit
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/paintbox-yarns-simply-dk
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/paintbox-yarns-cotton-aran
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/debbie-bliss-rialto-dk
- www.lovecrafts.com/en-gb/products/stylecraft-special-dk
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/yarn/stylecraft-special-dk
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/pony-single-end-crochet-hook-aluminium-15cm-4-00mm
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/clover-amour-crochet-hook-4mm
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/accessories/clover-split-ring-markers-pack-of-24
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/accessories/clover-locking-stitch-markers-pack-of-20
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/hemline-needles-tapestry-size-18-pack-of-6
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/korbond-general-purpose-scissors-5inch
- www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/delivery-information
Sources checked 2 October 2026. Label facts come from the linked references; worked purchase examples and arithmetic are our own illustrations.
Keep planning
- Moss stitch crochet blanket: how much yarn does it take?
- Double crochet UK vs US: terms chart and 29 patterns
- Do bobble and puff stitches use more yarn?
- Crochet hooks UK: ergonomic hooks and sets compared
- What do you need to start crochet? A UK starter list
- History of crochet in Britain: a dated timeline
- Stylecraft Special DK: metres, quantities and planner
These are planning methods, not physically tested crochet patterns. Read our method and editorial approach.