Hildithryth was a nun, probably an abbess, at Whitby Abbey (in Yorkshire, England) in Saxon times. Her name is celebrated on a grave marker stone found there. These stones are also called ‘Pillow Stones’. The line drawing is of the original stone and the photo shows my version. The top two panels have the Greek ‘alpha’ and ‘omega’ symbols and the bottom row is of Anglo-Saxon runes that read (from left to right) H-I-L-D-I-Th-R-Y (or U)-Th, the lass’ name. I have done these in fairly wobbly embroidery.

This uses a technique called (confusingly) ‘twice knitting’ or ‘double knitting’ that forms a good dense fabric for the main background. The dark colour is textured with reverse linen-stitch, which is a reasonably good tension match with the twice knitting.

Warning: there are points where you have seven balls on the go at once!

Materials:

• 300g medium weight cotton in main colour
• 50g medium weight cotton in contrast colour

Embroider on the letters and runes if you want or add your own; see http://cozytozy.com/wp/anglo-saxon-rune-poem/ for other Anglo-Saxon runes you could use.