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Games and tools

Besides charts and projects, the site has two small sections «for the hands»: «Tools» – calculators that answer the questions you have before you start (how big the piece will be, how much floss it takes, what to replace a colour with, which fabric to buy) – and «Games» – six simple games for a break between rows. Both sections open without an account. The links to them sit in the footer of every page, not in the header.

Tools

Open «Tools» in the footer – /en/tools. The page «Cross-stitch calculators» shows five cards. Four of the calculators work without an account and even without JavaScript. The answer lives in the page address: you can bookmark a result or send it to a friend as a link, and it will open the same calculation with the same numbers.

Under each calculator there is a section «How this is worked out» – it explains where the figures come from and what the page cannot know for you.

How big the piece will be

«Design size calculator» – /en/tools/size-calculator.

  1. Enter «Chart width, stitches» and «Chart height, stitches».
  2. Set the «Fabric count» – the number of blocks or threads per inch, as the fabric is sold (14 for Aida 14, 28 for 28-count linen).
  3. Under «Stitched over», choose «1 block or thread – aida» or «2 threads – evenweave and linen».
  4. If you like, change «Margin for framing, cm per side» – the bare fabric around the edges that it is stretched by.
  5. Press «Calculate».

The «Result» block shows the «Stitched area» in centimetres and inches and the «Cloth to cut» – with the margin on every side.

Further down is the reverse calculation – «Frame first: how much chart fits». Enter the frame's opening and how much to leave free for a mount, and the calculator tells you what size of chart, in stitches, fits in it.

How much floss it takes

«Floss usage calculator» – /en/tools/floss-calculator.

Enter «Full crosses» – for one colour or for the whole chart – the count, «Strands per stitch» and «Brand». If you do not know the brand, choose «Not sure – use the reference skein». «Colour code» and «Metres per skein» are optional; if the skein is in your hands, the length on its band is more accurate than any reference.

The answer is a range of metres, not one number: one number would be wrong and would not say so. Below it come «That is, in skeins» and «Put on the shopping list»: how many skeins to buy, with a reserve the site adds. The number of stitches for each colour is printed on the page of every chart on this site.

What to replace a colour with

«Thread converter» – /en/tools/thread-converter.

Choose a brand, enter the code from the band (for example 310, B5200, Ecru) and press «Convert». You get two lists: «Nearest in the same brand» – because the cheapest replacement is the one already in your box – and «Nearest in other brands». Each thread carries its colour distance, ΔE2000, and a verdict: «Very close», «Close» or «Different». Discontinued threads are marked.

The matches are computed on the site from the measured colour of the threads, not copied from the makers' tables, so the converter does not promise an exact replacement. If a code is not in the database, you will see «No colour with that code in this brand» – check how it is written on the band.

Which fabric, and how many strands

«Fabric and strand chooser» – /en/tools/fabric-and-strands.

Set the count and the fabric – «Aida», «Evenweave» or «Linen» – and press «Calculate». The answer: «Strands for full crosses», «Strands for backstitch» and «One stitch measures».

The block «Backwards: the size you want, the count to buy» solves the opposite problem. Enter the chart's width in stitches and the width you want in centimetres (the height is optional). The calculator lists the «Counts this fabric is sold in» and marks the row «closest to what you asked for».

A chart from a photograph

«Photograph to chart» – /en/tools/photo-to-chart. The page with the explanations is open to everybody, but you can only make a chart once signed in: the finished chart lands in your account.

  1. Choose the «Image» (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF or BMP), the «Width, in stitches», «How many colours» and «Threads» – the brand the colours are matched to.
  2. Press «See what it would look like». In about a second, «Choosing the settings» opens with a small preview. Nothing has been saved yet.
  3. Change the width and the number of colours and press «Redraw the preview» until you like the picture.
  4. Press «Make the chart». The page «Working out the chart» refreshes on its own; it usually takes a few seconds.
  5. When «Done» appears, open the chart with «Open in the editor» or «Chart page».

The chart is private – only you see it until you decide otherwise. It appears in «My patterns». The photograph is kept only while the chart is being worked out and is deleted straight afterwards. The page names the ceilings on size and number of colours; the site may also limit how many charts from photographs you can make at a time.

Treat the result as a good draft: open it in the editor and clear away single stitches and extra shades. And remember the rights: a chart made from somebody else's photograph is a derived work. For yourself that is usually fine; for the gallery or for sale, only if the photograph is yours or is licensed for that use.

Import, export and PDF

Chart files are part of the editor, and the article on the chart editor covers them in detail. In short:

  • Download a chart. A chart's page has «Export JSON» and «Export OXS». OXS opens in other cross-stitch programs. A JSON file cannot be loaded back into the site.
  • Load a chart from a file. «My patterns» → «New pattern» → the «Import a pattern» block. It accepts .oxs files (from MacStitch, KXStitch, Pattern Keeper and others) and .xsd files from Pattern Maker. You can leave the title empty – it will be taken from the file. If the file held something the chart on the site cannot keep, the site lists it after the import.
  • Print and PDF. From a chart's page you can print it or download it as a PDF.
  • Open a chart from a PDF. If you have a PDF made on this site, upload it on the page «Open a chart from its PDF» – /en/interop/pdf (you need to be signed in). The site opens the chart the PDF was made from, if it is available to you. The site does not read PDFs from anywhere else and does not intend to.

Games

Open «Games» in the footer – /en/games. The shelf holds six games: «Bubbles», «2048», «Sudoku», «Mahjong Solitaire», «Klondike Solitaire» and «Minesweeper». Each has one sentence about what you do in it and a «Play» mark.

Click a game's name to open its page: a short description of the rules and the board below it. The game runs right in the page, in a frame of its own; there is nothing to install and no account is needed. You can play on a phone too – the board fits the width of the screen. The «All games» link takes you back to the list.

Worth knowing:

  • These are open-source versions of well-known games, embedded as they are. A note under the board says so, and the «Licence and source» link leads to the game's licence (in English).
  • There are no high scores. The site does not count your result and saves nothing on its side.
  • Game addresses are the same in every language and written in Latin letters, for example /en/games/sudoku. If you switch the language, the same game opens with its name and description translated.