US yarn in the UK
Caron Simply Soft Speckle 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 8 shades in stock on 6 October 2026. The closest UK swap in the yarns we track is Paintbox Simply Aran: 100% acrylic, 184m per 100g against 152.5m, and the same knitted tension as the maker’s: 18 stitches to 10cm.
Caron Simply Soft Speckle is speckled and Paintbox Simply Aran is a plain colour, so the swap matches the size, not the speckles.
Best UK swap: Paintbox Simply Aran · 53 shades in stock · from £1.69 a ball
See Paintbox Simply Aran shades at LoveCrafts ↗More choice: search Amazon UK for aran acrylic 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 Caron Simply Soft Speckle holds 215m and a ball of Paintbox Simply Aran holds 184m.
- 1 ball of Caron Simply Soft Speckle (215m) → 2 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 3 balls of Caron Simply Soft Speckle (645m) → 4 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 5 balls of Caron Simply Soft Speckle (1075m) → 6 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 10 balls of Caron Simply Soft Speckle (2150m) → 12 of Paintbox Simply Aran
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 Caron Simply Soft Speckle ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Simply Aran best match | Aran | 100% acrylic | 184m (+21%) | 18 sts (0%) | 1.17 | 53 of 65, from £1.69 |
| Paintbox Wool Mix Aran | Aran | 50% wool, 50% acrylic | 180m (+18%) | 18 sts (0%) | 1.19 | 37 of 60, from £4.55 |
| King Cole Wool Aran | Aran | 100% wool | 180m (+18%) | 18 sts (0%) | 1.19 | 11 of 19, from £4.99 |
Caron Simply Soft Speckle: the maker’s specs
| Weight | #4 Worsted (Medium) |
|---|---|
| Fibre | 100% acrylic |
| Ball | 141g (5 oz), 215m (235 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 152.5m |
| Hook | 5 mm (US H/8) |
| Needles | 5 mm (US 8) |
| Tension | Crochet: 13 sc x 14 r = 4" (10 cm) on 5 mm (US H/8); Knit: 18 sts x 24 r = 4" (10 cm) on 5 mm (US 8) |
Before you swap
US “worsted” (weight 4) sits between UK DK and aran; most worsted patterns work in a UK aran, but a lighter worsted can be closer to a heavy DK. 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: Caron product page, Paintbox Simply Aran. 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.