US yarn in the UK
Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in the UK: closest UK yarns
You can buy it in the UK: LoveCrafts had 15 of its 60 shades in stock on 4 October 2026. If your shade has gone, these are the closest UK yarns. The closest UK swap in the yarns we track is Paintbox Simply Aran: 100% acrylic, 184m per 100g against 156m, and 18 knitted stitches to 10cm on its ball band against 16 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 Vanna's Choice in a solid shade holds 156m (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 Vanna's Choice (156m) → 1 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 3 balls of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (468m) → 3 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 5 balls of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (780m) → 5 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 10 balls of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice (1560m) → 9 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 Vanna's Choice ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Simply Aran best match | Aran | 100% acrylic | 184m (+18%) | 18 sts (+13%) | 0.85 | 56 of 65, from £2.60 |
| Stylecraft Special Chunky | Chunky | 100% acrylic | 144m (-8%) | 14 sts (-12%) | 1.08 | 10 of 50, from £2.00 |
| Paintbox Simply Chunky | Chunky | 100% acrylic | 136m (-13%) | 14 sts (-12%) | 1.15 | 42 of 76, from £1.69 |
Lion Brand Vanna's Choice: the maker’s specs
| Weight | 4 Medium / Worsted |
|---|---|
| Fibre | Solids, Prints, Twists, Mist: 100% acrylic (some Heathers 92% acrylic/8% rayon or 97/3 other) |
| Ball (solid shades) | 100g (3.5 oz), 156m (170 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 156m |
| Hook | J-10 (6 mm) |
| Needles | #9 (5.5 mm) |
| Tension | Crochet: 12 sc x 15 r = 4 in on J-10 (6 mm); Knit: 16 sts x 22 r = 4 in on #9 (5.5 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.