Boucle yarn creates a warm, lightweight fabric when worked up in crochet. If you haven’t yet crocheted with boucle yarn, here are my top tips to get the best results.
This blog post for tips for crocheting with boucle yarn covers the following:
Some of the crocheting with boucle yarn tips from above are also shared in this video:
1 – What is Boucle Yarn?
Boucle yarn usually has one uniform strand that is often made from cotton or nylon to bring stability and durability to the plied yarn.
The second strand is often a looped or curled wool, alpaca, mohair or cotton that creates the interesting texture in the yarn. This looping creates a very warm, light fabric when crocheted.
Some yarns marketed as ‘boucle’ are not looped or hooped but are very fluffy to create a textured yarn that is also light and warm when crocheted.
I am using both types in this blog post so you can see how well they both crochet up. Head here to see which yarns I used and some other boucle yarn suggestions.
Boucle yarn is different from slub yarn which has a whole different texture. You can read more about slub yarns and knitting with boucle in these posts:
2 – Boucle Yarn from Skein to Cake or Ball?
It is easy to use a yarn winder and swift to cake up boucle yarn. Just take it slowly so that the loops aren’t rushed through the metal loops.
I also enjoyed hand winding the yarns into balls. It made me aware of knotted joins on the Rowan Soft Boucle hank which lead me to test out spit splicing boucle yarn as part of this blog post!
3 – What Hook Size For Boucle Yarn?
For my loop boucle swatch, I used a 6mm (J4 in US) hook. The ball band suggested 5mm needle/ hook.
My soft boucle swatch was made with an 8mm (L11 in US) hook rather than the 6mm needle/ hook size suggested on the ball band.
Many yarn labels suggest knitting needle sizes but not crochet hook sizes. If this is the case for your boucle yarn, I suggest initially going up 1 – 2mm from the suggested knitting needle size. Textured yarn generally needs a larger than suggested hook size.
If you want a denser fabric, move down a hook size by 1mm and if you want a more open fabric, move up a hook size and keep on playing until you get a fabric you love.
Try and use a crochet hook with a deep bowl for scooping the yarn though, but not a point hook. If your hook has a sharp point it is very likely to also pass through the loops and floof and get tangled in with your stitches.
4 – Use Stitch Markers
Working with boucle yarn is fun, but trying to count stitches and place your hook in the right place can be a challenge, particularly in the foundation chain!
The best way around this is to place stitch markers at regular intervals and definitely on the first and last stitch of a row or round.
If you don’t use place markers it can be difficult to find stitches because the yarn has so much additional texture. The ply that can usually be used as a guide to what is a stitch isn’t really visible with boucle yarn.
Yes it takes time to set up and move the markers, but it is still less time than the otherwise inevitable frogging and starting again.
5 – Use Simple Crochet Stitches for Boucle Yarn
This is one of the most important tips for crocheting with boucle yarn. Keep It Simple!
The texture of the yarn makes the fabric look dense even though it is very lightweight. Therefore, complex stitches will not be seen properly, so it is better to stick to basic stitches like double (single US), half treble (half double US) or treble crochet (double crochet US).
These image show 2 rows of each of those basic stitches and you can barely distinguish one row from the other because the yarn is fluffy.
This is the loop boucle yarn. It is difficult to identify rows, let alone stitches.
This image shows the soft boucle yarn swatched up. There is a little more definition between the rows and stitches, but this is partially because I used an 8mm (L11 in US) hook, which was 2mm larger than the ball band suggested.
Stick to simple stitches with boucle yarns because complex stitches will get lost in the textured fabric.
If you are working on a crochet design with boucle yarn, it might be better to use the length of rows/ rounds in cm/ ” rather than number of rows/ rnds because they are so difficult to count.
6 – How to Identify Where the Next Stitch Goes with Boucle Yarn
Knowing exactly where the next stitch is can be a little tricky because each stitch has a lot of extra yarn around it either from loops or fluff.
Apart from using stitch markers to mark regular intervals, there is one more trick I have for you. Yank your hook up a little so that it tugs on the last stitch just made. That will help to identify the last stitch you used and hopefully where the next stitch is.
For extra reference, here are what the stitches looked like in both of my swatches. For both of them you can identify the front and back loops of the stitches, it just isn’t as obvious as it is with other yarns.
The above image shows where four of the stitches are in my loop boucle swatch.
This image shows where four of the stitches are in my soft boucle swatch.
7 – Frogging Boucle Yarn
You would think that frogging boucle yarn would be impossible, but it isn’t! Here is what I found worked:
- Use your non dominant hand to stretch out the row/round that is being frogged. This will open up the stitch gauge and make frogging much easier.
- If the fluff of soft boucle makes frogging difficult, take time to gently pull the fibres apart with your finger nails. I didn’t have an issue with the loop boucle yarn, but the soft boucle definitely meshed together, presenting problems. <<< I actually abandoned the foundation chain part of my frogged swatch because NOTHING was going to save it!
- Don’t pull hard on the yarn. Although most boucle yarns have a strong cotton/nylon ply, it can still be broken easily. Take your time and your crochet fabric should frog. The image below shows that my soft boucle yarn ply detached from itself and created a thin, single ply part of my yarn after frogging.
8 – Can you Spit Splice Boucle Yarn?
I did not have success spit splicing either of my boucle yarns. I expected it to work given that they both contain the natural fibres of wool and alpaca. Instead, weaving in ends is required for boucle yarns.
9 – Weaving in Boucle Yarn Ends
The beauty of boucle yarns is that weaving in ends is really easy! The crocheted fabric is so textured that your woven tail ends are never going to be seen, so you can do it quickly and with little regard for neatness – huzzah!
I would still stick to a 10cm/ 4″ tail end to weave end. It doesn’t need to be neat, but does need to be secure.
10 – Look after Your Hands & Nails
The loops in boucle yarn can have lots of fly-away fibres that can catch on rough bits of nail or skin on your fingers.
Even though I thought my nails were smooth, I snagged two finger nails while pulling together the swatches for this and the slub yarn post.
Try to keep your nails trimmed and hands well moisturised when you are working with slub and boucle yarns.
11 – Where to buy Boucle Yarn
The yarns used for this post were:
- Drops Alpaca Boucle (50g/ 140m/ 153yds) which is a blend of 80% alpaca, 15% wool and 5% polyamide.
- Rowan Soft Boucle (50g/ 100m/ 109yds) which is a blend of 45% cotton, 23% alpaca, 22% wool and 10% polyamide.
Other suppliers I found on the internet with interesting blends were:
- Isager Boucle – this 100% alpaca boucle is high on my list to try!
- Mamie and Florrie – hand dyed merino boucle by Amy in Jumbo Boucle or in DK Boucle
- Cappybara Mohair Hoop Boucle yarn (75% Mohair, 20% wool, 5% nylon)
Boucle yarn can also be searched for on Etsy and eBay by using terms like ‘Boucle Loop’, ‘Boucle Hoop’, ‘Art Yarn’, ‘Textured Yarn’ or ‘Fancy Yarn’.
These search terms for boucle yarn can return results for some lovely vintage finds. I personally de-stashed some OG Rowan loop boucle British yarn a few years back and now regret doing so!
I often see vintage boucle yarns in my local charity shops too. Especially boucle yarns that are closer to the Rowan Soft Boucle, using mohair.
Want More Crochet Tip & Tricks?
Of course you do! I would start with these blog posts:
- How to Crochet With Slub Yarn
- My Best Crochet Tips I Wish I Knew 10 Years Ago
- Crochet Stitch Anatomy – understand the stitches you are creating and how they differ in rows and rounds.
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