US yarn in the UK
Red Heart Comfort 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 37 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 174.4m, and the same knitted tension as the maker’s: 18 stitches to 10cm.
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 Red Heart Comfort in a solid shade holds 792m (print and multi shades often come in smaller balls; check the label) and a ball of Paintbox Simply Aran holds 184m.
- 1 ball of Red Heart Comfort (792m) → 5 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 3 balls of Red Heart Comfort (2376m) → 13 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 5 balls of Red Heart Comfort (3960m) → 22 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 10 balls of Red Heart Comfort (7920m) → 44 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 Red Heart Comfort ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Simply Aran best match | Aran | 100% acrylic | 184m (+6%) | 18 sts (0%) | 4.30 | 53 of 65, from £1.69 |
| Paintbox Wool Mix Aran | Aran | 50% wool, 50% acrylic | 180m (+3%) | 18 sts (0%) | 4.40 | 37 of 60, from £4.55 |
| King Cole Wool Aran | Aran | 100% wool | 180m (+3%) | 18 sts (0%) | 4.40 | 11 of 19, from £4.99 |
Red Heart Comfort: the maker’s specs
| Weight | #4 Worsted (Medium) |
|---|---|
| Fibre | Solids: 100% acrylic; Flecks: 97% acrylic, 3% viscose; Shimmers: 98% acrylic, 2% other fibres |
| Ball (solid shades) | 454g (16 oz), 792m (867 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 174.4m |
| Hook | 5.5 mm (US I/9) |
| Needles | 4.5 mm (US 7) |
| Tension | Crochet: 13 sc x 17 r = 4" (10 cm) on 5.5 mm (US I/9); Knit: 18 sts x 24 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: Red Heart 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.