US yarn in the UK
Lion Brand Pound of Love in the UK: closest UK yarns
LoveCrafts UK had only 2 of its 43 shades in stock on 4 October 2026, so for most colours you’ll need a swap. The closest UK swap in the yarns we track is Paintbox Simply Aran: 100% acrylic, 184m per 100g against 205.3m, and 18 knitted stitches to 10cm on its ball band against 19 on the maker’s.
Best UK swap: Paintbox Simply Aran · 56 shades in stock · from £2.60 a ball
See Paintbox Simply 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 Lion Brand Pound of Love in a solid shade holds 932m (print and multi shades often come in smaller balls; check the label) and a ball of Paintbox Simply Aran holds 184m.
- 1 ball of Lion Brand Pound of Love (932m) → 6 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 3 balls of Lion Brand Pound of Love (2796m) → 16 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 5 balls of Lion Brand Pound of Love (4660m) → 26 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 10 balls of Lion Brand Pound of Love (9320m) → 51 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 Lion Brand Pound of Love ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Simply Aran best match | Aran | 100% acrylic | 184m (-10%) | 18 sts (-5%) | 5.07 | 56 of 65, from £2.60 |
| Stylecraft Special Aran | Aran | 100% acrylic | 196m (-5%) | 18 sts (-5%) | 4.76 | 6 of 50, from £1.88 |
Lion Brand Pound of Love: the maker’s specs
| Weight | 4 Medium / Worsted |
|---|---|
| Fibre | 100% premium acrylic |
| Ball (solid shades) | 454g (16 oz), 932m (1020 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 205.3m |
| Hook | J-10 (6 mm) |
| Needles | #8 (5 mm) |
| Tension | Crochet: 14 sc x 18 r = 4 in on J-10 (6 mm); Knit: 19 sts x 24 r = 4 in on #8 (5 mm) |
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: Lion Brand 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.