Budget-Friendly Zauberball Alternative? My Honest Review of Temu’s Gradient Yarn ~ Is it worth it?

I'm gonna do it all actually, so I'm deep diving into my Zauberball dupes today, so stick around and see if I like these or not. But first, hit the like, subscribe, and notification bells if you want to see more of these reviews, as well as free patterns that I will be releasing with a lot of the yarn that I am using, so don't forget to hit that notification bell. So when I initially got this is because it looked just like a Zobberball. I made this fall infinity scarf with this Zobberball color that's called Pleateduff, and they don't make it anymore. They make it in a crazy version, so it's not quite the same, but I get asked all the time what yarn this is, and I've been trying to find a substitute to be able to give to people to use since that Colorway was discontinued. Zauberball, if you're listening, it's a very popular colorway. You should bring it back. So when I was browsing through Timu to pick yarns to try out and I saw this, I was super excited because as you can see from the Zauberball picture, this has those kind of Colors that are wound in the separate colorways, so it looks very similar. It looks like the one ply that the Zauberball comes in. According to the Temu website, it is an 80% wool, 20% polyester, so kind of like a sock yarn would probably be, you know, What you would kind of think of, you know, it's about a sock weight. And according to the ball tag, it has 800 meters in one ball, which is even more than a Zauberball. A Zauberball has about 450 meters, so this is almost double for way cheaper. And remember, if you use the link in the description, if you like these and want to go buy them yourselves, you'll get an even bigger discount than how much I paid for. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to make the Fall Infinity Scarf and because I have so much yardage I might make it a little bit lighter. So I am going to test this out. I don't know what I'm going to do with this one yet. It might be another one of my free patterns. We'll see but I'm definitely going to use this one first and make that Fall Infinity Scarf so we can see how close it is to our Zauberball and see if this is going to be a good dupe for people that want to make it And like that colorway. So I'll show you working up close with this to see and frog a little bit. The Zauberball usually kind of stuck to itself sometimes, so we'll see how sticky this yarn is being 80% wool, but I'm excited. This one is like the most I'm most excited I am about trying, so I can't wait to get going. So let's go show some close-ups of working with it and I'll let you know what I think of it. Okay, let's dive into what it was like working with the Temu yarn. Right off the bat, I have to say that the wool itself is very similar to the original Zauberball. It's that one-ply, slightly sticky wool texture that helps keep stitches in place, which is great for maintaining the integrity of your work. However, it can also make frogging a challenge. If you make a mistake and you have to undo a few rows, you'll notice that the fibers are clinging to each other, which means you'd have to slow down and be very careful so that you don't break the yarn. My advice, take your time and gently separate the strands if you need to unravel. One of the standout features of this yarn is its color transitions. Unlike some self-striping yarn that is very apparent when there is a color change, as if two different yarn strands had just been stuck together, these changes flow smoothly from one shade to the next, creating this beautiful seamless gradient effect. It's truly one of the best aspects of this dupe and something that makes it feel almost identical to the Zauber Ball. So projects made with this yarn will have that same look. Now let's talk about this specific colorway. As I mentioned already, I chose this ball in the hopes of matching a discontinued Zobber Ball shade that I absolutely loved that I used on my Fall Infinity scarf. As you can see with this side-by-side comparison, it is not identical. There are some similar colors, but not a match. So, while it's not an exact match, it's still a very pretty alternative. The colors are vibrant, rich, they flow beautifully into each other. I would definitely use this colorway again if I needed those specific colors for something. Another big plus is that the two balls that I worked with, this being one and then the green shades, I did not find a single knot. For me that's always a relief because knots can totally disrupt things especially with color transitions if they're not planned well and then they add to that hassle of trying to figure out if you're going to cut the yarn at the knot and then weave in extra ends or leave it and hope it stays on the wrong side of the project. Always a hassle. You know the struggle. On top of that, this yarn blocked up really easily after soaking it. I noticed very minimal color runoff, which is always a good sign, especially with bright colors and multi-colors. But remember that this is mostly wool. You cannot throw it in the washing machine. You have to hand wash this or you will have a felted scarf, which would be such a bummer after putting so much work into it. Now for the major downside of this yarn, the yardage. The label claims that each ball contains 800 meters, but as I worked on this Fall Infinity scarf it quickly became clear that something was off. The scarf was much shorter than it should have been. So, to confirm, I ran my second ball, the green shades, through my yardage counter, And I was right. It only measured 500 meters. That is a significant difference. 300 meters less than advertised. Almost half. So while 500 meters is a super generous amount of yarn, especially for the price of this yarn, the deceptive labeling is super disappointing and can really throw someone off the, you know, if you're planning a specific project and come up short. But overall I'm happy with this yarn. That deceptive yardage is definitely a drawback and because of that I've decided to adjust my initial rating of 5 out of 5 to a solid 4. While the price, quality, and the colors are worth it, the yardage issue is something I can't ignore. So if you're considering this yarn, just be aware of that limitation so you can plan accordingly. So what do you think about this yarn? Do you like the color differences between this? Temu yarn and the Zauberball yarn. Which one do you prefer? So I got yarn off of Temu recently. If you haven't seen my big haul, you should check that out because I go over everything that I got and I said I would deep dive into some of these. And let me know in the comments because I'd love to hear what you think. And if you want to try this yarn for yourself, the link is in the description below. You should go check out some of my other videos where I have lots of free patterns and other reviews. But I am Deja with Knit and Crochet Ever After and thank you for watching.