The Woobles Pierre the Penguin Crochet Kit Review: Is the Viral Beginner Kit Worth It?

Introduction

The Woobles became one of the most talked-about beginner crochet kits online, with character sets that promise everything you need to make a finished plush, even if you have never picked up a hook before. The Pierre the Penguin kit is one of its flagship sets, retailing for around $30 and widely available through craft stores as well as the brand’s own website.

To put the claims to the test, a complete beginner with roughly three months of casual crocheting experience, mostly producing wonky rectangles, worked through the entire kit from start to finish. Here is how it went, what is inside the box, and whether the price is justified.

Who This Product Is For

The Woobles positions itself clearly at absolute beginners. The packaging is genuinely charming, the kit is self-contained, and the step-by-step video tutorials are designed to carry you from the first stitch to a finished character. The brand also appeared on Shark Tank, which helped push it into mainstream craft stores.

One standout detail: the video tutorials come in both right-handed and left-handed versions. Given that roughly 10% of people are left-handed and most crochet content assumes right-handedness, this is a thoughtful touch that many competing kits simply do not offer.

The brand also sells intermediate and beginner-plus sets, limited edition characters, a mini Pierre, and themed collections, so there is a progression path once you finish your first plush.

What Comes in the Box

Inside the Pierre kit you get The Woobles’ own soft yarn in the exact colors needed for the penguin, a branded crochet hook, a yarn needle, safety eyes, a small pillow of stuffing, and stitch markers that help you count rows and track where rounds start and stop. Everything is portioned for the character, so you are not guessing which materials to use.

The back of the card includes a QR code and a password that unlock the step-by-step video guide for Pierre on the brand’s website. The kit also includes a pre-started piece, which removes the intimidating very first step of starting a round crochet piece from scratch.

The company claims the project takes between 3 and 8 hours. In practice, a first-time character crocheter finished in about 4.5 hours, which sits comfortably inside that window.

Following the Video Tutorials

The video instruction is the core of what you are paying for, and it is taught in a deliberately slow, repetitive, “crochet for dummies” style. Techniques are explained one at a time, and the tutorial eventually steps back and leaves you to work a stretch of rounds on your own, checking in at key stages.

This pacing mostly works well. Early rounds feel guided, and by the middle of the project you are independently working longer stretches, which is exactly how confidence gets built. The pre-started piece also helps with tension, a common stumbling block for new crocheters.

There are genuine frustrations, though. The tutorials are assembled from small recycled snippets rather than one continuous video for the exact character you are making. At one point the instructional video failed to load entirely, forcing a detour to figure out the step independently. And some snippets are filmed with a different piece, which can be confusing: one segment instructs you to attach the eyes, then cuts to a demo piece that already has eyes when yours should not yet. It works overall, but the seams show.

The Actual Crochet Experience

The project is structured in satisfying stages: you build a flat circle, grow it into a shallow cup, work the body upward, then decrease rounds back down to a closed point that forms the bottom. Watching the shape turn into what one crocheter described as a “potato dome” is genuinely rewarding, and the row and stitch counts line up with the instructions, which is a good sign of a well-tested pattern.

Adding the safety eyes is simple, stuffing is straightforward once you know not to overfill, and closing up the final small hole is the fiddliest part of the whole build. The white belly, beak, and flippers come next, each a small standalone piece sewn on at the end. The result is a recognizable, genuinely cute penguin that looks impressively close to the official product photos for a first attempt.

Not everything goes perfectly, and that is part of the value: one wing came out noticeably better than the other, and the magic ring variation taught in the video leaves a small hole in the middle of the belly piece. These are beginner-acceptable imperfections rather than kit failures.

A nice bonus: there appears to be enough leftover yarn to crochet a second, smaller Pierre if you wanted to reuse the pattern and skills.

Feedback and Critiques

At $30, this is an expensive price point for a single crochet project, and the honest assessment is that the value comes almost entirely from the video tutorials rather than the materials, which are fairly standard for the category. The critique is fair: at this price, the tutorial for your specific character should run continuously from start to finish instead of stitching together snippets from different pieces.

Availability can also be inconsistent. Store websites have shown out-of-stock status while shelves were actually fully stocked, so it is worth checking the end caps in person or simply ordering directly. The verdict after finishing the project: a solid 8 out of 10, with an immediate reorder of more Woobles sets as the clearest sign of satisfaction.

Buying Advice

If you have never crocheted before, or you have tried and bounced off written patterns, The Woobles Pierre kit is one of the friendliest possible entry points. The pre-started piece, left-handed videos, exact portioned materials, and slow-paced instruction remove nearly every barrier that makes crochet intimidating. If you already crochet confidently, the high price for the yarn and hardware alone will feel harder to justify, and you may get more value from a pattern and your own materials.

Conclusion

The Woobles Pierre the Penguin kit delivers on its core promise: a total beginner made a recognizable, genuinely cute crocheted character in about 4.5 hours, imperfections included. The recycled, sometimes confusing tutorial snippets and the $30 price are legitimate knocks, but the overall experience is charming, well-supported, and effective enough to hook you on the hobby. For anyone curious about learning crochet, this is an easy recommendation.