Getting into cross stitch

I am rubbish at keeping count of stitches in my head, so the last time I attempted a counted cross stitch was in 1990, and it is still sitting in one of my craft tubs somewhere unfinished. But I recently learnt that with these amazing disappearing ink pens, you can mark a grid or any other helpful marks on the fabric and then the ink will either fade away over time, or can be washed out with water, so the most you need to count to is 10! This changes everything :)

Ever ambitious, I acquired some of the magic 'Chako Ace' pens from AliExpress and a pattern ( Get Kraken ), as my holiday craft project.

I also made myself a little sheath for my embroidery scissors from some leather scraps.