US yarn in the UK
Red Heart Soft 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 34 shades in stock on 4 October 2026. The closest UK swap in the yarns we track is Paintbox Simply Aran: 100% acrylic, 184m per 100g against 166m, and 18 knitted stitches to 10cm on its ball band against 17 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 Red Heart Soft in a solid shade holds 234m (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 Soft (234m) → 2 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 3 balls of Red Heart Soft (702m) → 4 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 5 balls of Red Heart Soft (1170m) → 7 of Paintbox Simply Aran
- 10 balls of Red Heart Soft (2340m) → 13 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 Soft ball | Shades in stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paintbox Simply Aran best match | Aran | 100% acrylic | 184m (+11%) | 18 sts (+6%) | 1.27 | 56 of 65, from £2.60 |
| Stylecraft Special Aran | Aran | 100% acrylic | 196m (+18%) | 18 sts (+6%) | 1.19 | 6 of 50, from £1.88 |
| Stylecraft Special Chunky | Chunky | 100% acrylic | 144m (-13%) | 14 sts (-18%) | 1.63 | 10 of 50, from £2.00 |
Red Heart Soft: the maker’s specs
| Weight | #4 Worsted (Medium) |
|---|---|
| Fibre | 100% acrylic |
| Ball (solid shades) | 141g (5 oz), 234m (256 yd) |
| Metres per 100g | 166m |
| Hook | 5.5 mm (US I/9) |
| Needles | 5 mm (US 8) |
| Tension | Crochet: 12 sc x 15 r = 4" (10 cm) on 5.5 mm (US I/9); Knit: 17 sts x 23 r = 4" (10 cm) on 5 mm (US 8) |
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.