It's the question beginners ask most, and the answer turns on one thing: does the box you're looking at contain everything, or not.
Half of those sold as “kits” do not. Here are both routes, with figures.
If you start from nothing
Six purchases. The prices below are those charged in craft shops, recorded in the same place as our kits.
A 3 mm soft-grip hook
€6.99
DK cotton, two to three balls
about €7
Polyester stuffing
€6.50
A pair of safety eyes
€3.50
A yarn needle
€6.50
A stitch marker
a few euros
Total
around €31
If you take a complete box
One purchase, and the cheapest in our catalogue is €9.54.
The gap isn't small: three times less for the first piece. And it widens once you count the time spent choosing six references you know nothing about.
But it flips on the third project
The six purchases don't repeat. The hook, the needle and the marker last for years. The bag of stuffing makes about ten pieces, the packet of eyes several pairs.
On your second amigurumi you only rebuy the yarn — a few euros. That's where buying separately starts to pay.
Our advice: a complete box for the first one, individual items after that. Learn what you use, then buy it well.
What you really shouldn't do
Buy a €7 box that only holds yarn, believing it's a kit. The sum then climbs to thirty euros, and the sticker price will only have served to make you click.
We ran the numbers on a real case: €6.87 advertised, €30.36 paid.
