US yarn in the UK
Lily Sugar'n Cream The Original 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 42 shades in stock on 4 October 2026. The closest UK swap in the yarns we track is Paintbox Cotton Aran: 100% cotton, 170m per 100g against 153.5m, and the same knitted tension as the maker’s: 20 stitches to 10cm.
Best UK swap: Paintbox Cotton Aran · 73 shades in stock · from £2.75 a ball
See Paintbox Cotton Aran shades at LoveCrafts ↗Ad · paid link. Price and stock at LoveCrafts checked 4 October 2026.
How many balls to buy
Buy by length, not by ball: a ball of Lily Sugar'n Cream in a solid shade holds 109m (print and multi shades often come in smaller balls; check the label) and a ball of Paintbox Cotton Aran holds 85m.
- 1 ball of Lily Sugar'n Cream (109m) → 2 of Paintbox Cotton Aran
- 3 balls of Lily Sugar'n Cream (327m) → 4 of Paintbox Cotton Aran
- 5 balls of Lily Sugar'n Cream (545m) → 7 of Paintbox Cotton Aran
- 10 balls of Lily Sugar'n Cream (1090m) → 13 of Paintbox Cotton 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 Lily Sugar'n Cream ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Cotton Aran best match | Aran | 100% cotton | 170m (+11%) | 20 sts (0%) | 1.28 | 73 of 81, from £2.75 |
| Rico Creative Cotton Aran | Aran | 100% cotton | 170m (+11%) | 18 sts (-10%) | 1.28 | 3 of 76, from £2.49 |
Lily Sugar'n Cream The Original: the maker’s specs
| Weight | #4 Worsted (Medium) |
|---|---|
| Fibre | 100% cotton |
| Ball (solid shades) | 71g (2.5 oz), 109m (120 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 153.5m |
| Hook | 5 mm (US H/8) |
| Needles | 4.5 mm (US 7) |
| Tension | Crochet: 13 sc x 14 r = 4" (10 cm) on 5 mm (US H/8); Knit: 20 sts x 26 r = 4" (10 cm) on 4.5 mm (US 7) |
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: Lily Sugar'n Cream product page, Paintbox Cotton 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.