US yarn in the UK
Bernat Velvet in the UK: closest UK yarns
The maker’s online shop, Yarnspirations, sells it to the US and Canada, and LoveCrafts UK lists it but had none of its 31 shades in stock on 6 October 2026. The closest UK swap in the yarns we track is Paintbox Chenille: 100% polyester chenille, 120m per 100g against 96m, and 10 knitted stitches to 10cm on its ball band against 12 on the maker’s.
Best UK swap: Paintbox Chenille · 24 shades in stock · from £4.75 a ball
See Paintbox Chenille shades at LoveCrafts ↗More choice: search Amazon UK for chunky chenille yarn ↗
Ad · paid links. Price and stock at LoveCrafts checked 6 October 2026.
How many balls to buy
Buy by length, not by ball: a ball of Bernat Velvet in a solid shade holds 288m (print and multi shades often come in smaller balls; check the label) and a ball of Paintbox Chenille holds 120m.
- 1 ball of Bernat Velvet (288m) → 3 of Paintbox Chenille
- 3 balls of Bernat Velvet (864m) → 8 of Paintbox Chenille
- 5 balls of Bernat Velvet (1440m) → 12 of Paintbox Chenille
- 10 balls of Bernat Velvet (2880m) → 24 of Paintbox Chenille
For any pattern, our yarn substitution calculator does the sum, and the pattern reader pulls the yarn list out of a pasted pattern.
UK yarns compared
| UK yarn | UK weight | Fibre | Metres per 100g | Knit tension (10cm) | UK balls per Bernat Velvet ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Chenille best match | Chunky | 100% polyester chenille | 120m (+25%) | 10 sts (-17%) | 2.40 | 24 of 30, from £4.75 |
| King Cole Yummy | Chunky | 100% polyester chenille | 120m (+25%) | 10 sts (-17%) | 2.40 | 32 of 55, from £4.29 |
| Hayfield Bonus Super Chunky | Super chunky | 100% acrylic | 82m (-15%) | 9 sts (-25%) | 3.51 | 21 of 41, from £3.15 |
Bernat Velvet: the maker’s specs
| Weight | #5 Bulky |
|---|---|
| Fibre | 100% polyester |
| Ball (solid shades) | 300g (10.5 oz), 288m (315 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 96m |
| Hook | 6.5 mm (US K/10 1/2) |
| Needles | 6.5 mm (US 10 1/2) |
| Tension | Crochet: 10 sc x 11 r = 4" (10 cm) on 6.5 mm (US K/10 1/2); Knit: 12 sts x 17 r = 4" (10 cm) on 6.5 mm (US 10 1/2) |
Before you swap
US weight 5 (bulky) is close to UK chunky; check the tension, as some bulky yarns sit nearer super chunky. Make a 10cm swatch in your swap yarn with the pattern’s hook or needles and compare it with the tension above. If your square is bigger, go down a size; if it’s smaller, go up. Swapping fibre changes the feel and the wash: acrylic for acrylic, cotton for cotton keeps a pattern behaving as written.
Sources: Bernat product page, Paintbox Chenille. How we rank swaps: one combined score for closeness in metres per 100g, knitted tension on the ball band and fibre, with a small penalty for yarns with fewer than 10 shades in stock and for a chunky standing in for a worsted. See also UK yarn weights explained.