US yarn in the UK
Lion Brand Wool-Ease in the UK: closest UK yarns
You can buy it in the UK: LoveCrafts had 23 of its 51 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 211.8m, and the same knitted tension as the maker’s: 18 stitches to 10cm. It’s 100% acrylic rather than an 80% acrylic, 20% wool blend, so it will feel and wash a little differently.
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 Wool-Ease in a solid shade holds 180m (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 Wool-Ease (180m) → 1 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 3 balls of Lion Brand Wool-Ease (540m) → 3 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 5 balls of Lion Brand Wool-Ease (900m) → 5 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 10 balls of Lion Brand Wool-Ease (1800m) → 10 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 Wool-Ease ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Simply Aran best match | Aran | 100% acrylic | 184m (-13%) | 18 sts (0%) | 0.98 | 56 of 65, from £2.60 |
| Stylecraft Special Aran | Aran | 100% acrylic | 196m (-7%) | 18 sts (0%) | 0.92 | 6 of 50, from £1.88 |
Lion Brand Wool-Ease: the maker’s specs
| Weight | 4 Medium / Worsted |
|---|---|
| Fibre | Solids, Heather, Twist: 80% acrylic, 20% wool (other colourways differ: Glitter/Multi 78/19/3 polyamide; Frosts 70/20/10 polyamide; Sprinkles, Mushroom, Rainbow Mist 86/10/4 other) |
| Ball (solid shades) | 85g (3 oz), 180m (197 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 211.8m |
| Hook | J-10 (6 mm) |
| Needles | #8 (5 mm) |
| Tension | Crochet: 13.2 sc x 16 r = 4 in on J-10 (6 mm); Knit: 18 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.