Stop guessing. Start making.
Every craft has its awkward little sums — how many balls of yarn, how many stitches, how much wax, how much ribbon. The Craft Desk works them out in seconds, so you can get back to the part you actually enjoy.
Sound familiar?
These are the moments this site was built for.
“There's no label on this needle.”
Lay it on the screen and read its size in millimetres, US and UK — no gauge tool needed.
Measure a needle →“Will this yarn be enough?”
Pop the ball on the kitchen scales and find out before you cast on, rather than three sleeves in.
Check my yarn →“The last hat came out enormous.”
Head measurement plus your gauge gives the right cast-on, with the snugness built in.
Size a hat →“How much wax does this jar take?”
Jars are sold by volume and wax by weight. Enter the container and we'll do the conversion.
Work out the wax →The tools
Pick a craft and get an answer in under a minute.
Needle & Hook Sizer
The markings wear off every needle eventually. Lay yours on the screen and find its size in millimetres, US and UK.
Measure a needle → Knitting & crochetGauge & Pattern Resizer
Swatch not matching the pattern? See which way to change needles — or simply make the piece the size you actually want.
Check my gauge → Knitting & crochetMystery Yarn Identifier
No band, no idea. Wrap the yarn, count the wraps, and we'll name the weight and the needles it wants.
Identify my yarn → Knitting & crochetYardage & Substitution
How many balls to buy, whether your stash will stretch, and how to swap one yarn for another safely.
Work out my yarn → JewelleryBead Sizer & Planner
Match a bead against true-size circles, then count exactly how many you need for a bracelet or necklace.
Size my beads → Knitting & crochetHat Size Calculator
Head measurement and your gauge give the cast-on number, with the snugness that stops a hat sliding off.
Size my hat → Knitting & crochetIncrease & Decrease Evenly
Turns "decrease 9 stitches evenly across the row" into an instruction you can follow stitch by stitch.
Space my stitches → CrochetBlanket & Granny Square Planner
Square counts, layout, finished size, yarn and a rough making time — with a picture of how it will lay out.
Plan my blanket → JewelleryWire Gauge Identifier
Find the gauge of an unlabelled wire in AWG, British SWG and millimetres, with what each thickness suits.
Identify my wire → Cross-stitchCross-Stitch Fabric Calculator
Finished size from your stitch and fabric count, and exactly what size fabric to cut with margins.
Size my project → QuiltingQuilt Binding & Backing
Strips to cut, backing yardage with the seaming worked out, and which batting package to buy.
Work out my quilt → CandlesCandle Wax Calculator
Wax weight, fragrance oil and a starting wick for any container — including tapered jars and teacups.
Plan my candle → WreathsRibbon & Bow Calculator
Exact yardage for any bow, how many rolls to buy, and a sketch that updates as you change the design.
Plan my bow →How the measuring works
One small step, once — then everything on screen is true to life.
- Hold up any bank card. Every card in the world is made to exactly the same width, which makes the one in your purse a perfectly good measuring standard.
- Slide until they match. Now your screen knows its own scale — and it remembers, so you'll never do this twice on the same device.
- Lay your thing on the glass. A 4 mm circle really is 4 mm. Put a bead, a needle or a length of wire straight onto the screen and trust what you see.
Nothing you measure leaves your device
There's no account to make, nothing to upload, and no photographs of your hands or your home going anywhere. Every calculation happens inside your own browser, and your screen setting is saved only on your device.
More about this sitePrintables for the craft cupboard
For the times when a screen isn't welcome.
Charts and gauges you can print at true size and keep by the chair — needle gauges, a wraps-per-inch ruler, bead circles, blanket and hat size charts, quilt binding tables and graph paper.
There's also a members' set of planning sheets: a project planner, a swatch record and a stash inventory, free with your email.
Get the printablesGuides worth a cup of tea
Plain answers to the questions that come up mid-project.
How to Measure Gauge (and Why Your Jumper Came Out Wrong)
Half a stitch per inch adds four inches to a jumper. How to swatch properly, and how to rescue a project that's already off.
Read the guide → CrochetHow Many Granny Squares Do I Need for a Blanket?
Square counts for every blanket size, why your joining method changes the answer, and how long a throw honestly takes.
Read the guide → Craft roomCrafting Comfortably: Hands, Light and Setting Up Well
The lamp that matters more than any magnifier, looking after your hands, and why bigger needles are never a compromise.
Read the guide →Made for the way people actually craft
Most craft calculators were built a long time ago and it shows — tiny grey text, cramped buttons, and an assumption that you already know what a "PPI" is. This site is built on the opposite assumption: that you know your craft inside out and simply want a number, quickly, in words that make sense.
So the type is large, the buttons are big enough to hit without squinting or a steady hand, every instruction is written the way a friend would explain it, and nothing asks for your details before helping you. If something here is unclear or awkward to use, that's a fault worth fixing — do tell us.