About The Craft Desk
The Craft Desk began with a drawer of unmarked knitting needles and the realisation that the answer — a simple, accurate measurement — ought to take ten seconds rather than a trip to a shop. One tool became two, and the collection kept growing.
What this site is
A collection of free calculators and identifiers for the small sums that come up mid-project: what size is this needle, what weight is this yarn, how many squares for a blanket, how much wax for that jar, how much ribbon for a bow. Alongside them are printable charts for the times a screen isn't welcome, and plain-English guides for the questions behind the numbers.
How the measuring works
Several tools ask you to hold a bank card against a picture of one on screen. Every card in the world is made to exactly the same width, which makes the one in your purse a perfectly good measuring standard — and once your screen knows its own scale, everything it draws is true to life. You do this once per device and it's remembered.
What we care about
- Being genuinely useful. Every tool exists because the sum behind it is annoying to do by hand. If a tool isn't earning its place, it shouldn't be here.
- Being easy to read. Large type, generous buttons, instructions written the way a friend would explain them, and no jargon where a plain word will do.
- Being honest. Figures come with their limits stated. Where a result is an estimate, we say so.
- Respecting your privacy. Nothing you measure leaves your device. There's no account, nothing to upload, and no tracking of what you make.
How it stays free
The tools and printables are free and always will be. The site is supported by a small number of affiliate links to craft supplies we'd genuinely recommend, which earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. That's it — no subscriptions, no locked features, no wall of adverts. You can read more on our affiliate disclosure page.
Tell us what's missing
Every tool here was built because someone had to work something out on the back of an envelope. If there's a sum you find yourself doing again and again, we'd like to hear about it — and if something on the site is unclear, awkward or simply wrong, that's worth even more to us. Do get in touch.