Temu Yarn: Is It What They Say It Is?

Like many people, I've given into the lure of Temu cheap yarn. At first, buying things there was just to satisfy my own curiosity. Was this yarn any good? Are the descriptions accurate? Or are they just taking advantage of unsuspecting people excited to get a good deal on their hobby? I felt it was worth investigating myself since none of the comments on the listings seemed to be anything mentioning what particular knitters like me would want to know - things like fiber content and gauge. So after reading through the little descriptions available, I made a few selections for us to analyze. 

My biggest tip with buying yarn from any company based in China is to read the description and examine the photos carefully. The main complaints I see are from people who bought a yarn that was called "Milk Cotton", but it turned out to be polyester. Sorry but those people didn't read the description - or even the label in this case. Milk Cotton was just the name of the yarn translated into English as close as they could. If those buyers had read the description, they would have seen it was 100% acrylic or polyester. I bought 2 skeins of this knowing they were acrylic, but they are fingering weight and I knew I could use them for something. At $3.50 for 2 skeins, I'm happy with this one.

This yarn was sold as Gradient Wool. The label (using google translate) says its 75% animal fiber and 25% nylon, so this is sock yarn. After a burn test, I agree with the label. This one cost me $5.29, so again - I'm fine with the price for what I got. The only discrepancy I had is that the yarn is less vibrant than the photo they showed (I have dulled it down in my stash to show the real color).

I got a bug to try out some mohair after watching several knitting podcasters talk about it. I'm very untrendy (in case you haven't noticed), so I had no idea holding mohair with another yarn was a ~thing~ but I've been kind of intrigued ever since. I decided to get a few from Temu just to see if I like it or if it makes things too hot for Florida. I grabbed there 3 different listings: The pale peach color was a 10 pack (250 grams total) of 95% acrylic with 5% wool for $10.79; the single skein of pink was sold as acrylic at $2.19; the gray was a 2 pack of acrylic for $1.88. All of these were so cheap that I'm totally cool with what I received. I plan on using the pale peach in a sweater sometime.

This listing is actually what first caught my eye and made me want to buy yarn from Temu, lol. This listing was for 8 balls of Mink Wool Cashmere Yarn for $25.59. This yarn is super fine - definitely lace weight - but it really is so soft. When I translate the ball band it says: 50% animal fiber, 20% Australian wool, 20% viscose, 10% nylon. To be honest the burn test on this made me a bit skeptical. This yarn lit up like a candle. It did have a hair like smell when burning, but it went so fast it's hard to say. I wouldn't have expected that from something that was 70% animal hair, but viscose and nylon do burn quick, so I'm choosing to believe the label since they did list the fiber content. There's no denying that the yarn is incredibly soft - definitely a real hair type feel. This pack also included thinner thread for sewing your creation together as well as little packets of wool wash, which was a nice touch. This is so thin that at first I thought I would have to hold it with something else like the mohair, but I'm toying around with using it on my knitting machine. If it goes well, I would definitely buy this again in another color. My only complaint is that there is a distinct petroleum type smell to the yarn - I'm just hoping I can wash that out and it will be great.

These last few listings are the only true yarn brand item I've bought, but I can say with confidence this one is 100% legit. This is Lotus Yarns Swan Lake, which you can look up online and even on Ravelry. It's a 50 gram skein of 50%Cashmere/40%Wool/10%Angora blend and it is just heavenly soft. This was actually an extra deal to entice me to make a purchase - they usually list it for $5.39 per skein and offered me one at $1.79, so of course I bought it. It had to be this color and only one skein to get the deal, but I'm fine with that for such a nice yarn. This one came in a hank with an all English label and everything. This same yarn sells on Amazon for $11.99 per skein, so that's a pretty great savings even at the full Temu price. I liked this one so much that I ordered 2 other colors and I plan on using it in a shawl soon.

This one is sold as mink cashmere yarn, and it turns out to be Lotus Yarns Mimi Plus, which has been discontinued. These were sold in packs of 3 for $15, which again feels like a great price. The yarn is 37% Mink/ 33% Rayon/ 18% Cashmere/ 12% Wool in a lace weight and this really does feel dreamy. I got enough to make a sweater of this as well.

And finally this lovely bright green linen yarn. This is another from Lotus Yarns - it's called Linen 100 here. The yarn is 100% linen in a lace weight, so this is another candidate for my knitting machine. I just couldn't resist the color and the idea of knitting a linen shirt. These sold for $5 each on Temu, but on Amazon they sell for $11.99 per skein. Again - I'm thrilled with the savings on such a nice yarn.

So my verdict is that Temu can be a great place to buy yarn as long as you pay attention to what you are buying and don't just see the price and get too excited. Anything that sells with the Lotus Yarns labels is definitely good stuff and they are almost all half price of what you can buy it for on Amazon or from other yarn shops. I have several of their yarns in my wishlist  to possibly pick up in the future sometime. Most of the other yarns seem to come in much thinner than you would think compared to American acrylic yarns, but that's not a bad thing. I'm glad to have a source for fingering weight acrylic yarn on the cheap, personally. As long as you make sure you know what you are buying, you can find some really great deals with Temu's yarn :)

If you would like to try any of Temu's yarn, you can use my referral code afd76596 to get a special bonus - right now you can get a $100 coupon bundle AND 50% off your first purchase!

*I have included affiliate links above that give me a percentage of your sale if you make a purchase. All these items were bought with my own money and with no agreement to post - I just wanted to share what I've learned.