House pigeon – things you do for your friends. This poor old scraggy pigeon  spent several months in a cage recuperating from a nasty accident. Thinking he needed to be able to fly, my friend  released him  in with her hens – who attacked it mercilessly as hens do. He was left looking a bit like a vulture with no feathers on his neck. So he had to go back into his cage in the kitchen: ‘I don’t know what to do with him” she said wistfully. I’m not particularly fond of pigeons – what with all that cooing and pooing they do… but I’m quite fond of my friend so took him home with me and planned to release him into my garden where I have ultrasonic rat, cat and fox repellers. At least he would have a chance.

I started the release program in the greenhouse where i could check whether he could fly or not. He could fly. On day 2 he made a bid for freedom when I went to change his water – straight out over my head and down onto the terrace flying at about three feet altitude. He came to rest and  sat looking in through my sitting room window. Obviously a house bird. Next thing he’s in the hall checking out my ‘Sand rug’. He took off, one wing down and flew into the window taking an 

other nasty blow. I found him sitting alongside the Aga – obviously knows where to go when things are not going well. On Day 3 he was perched on the bird bath and looked quite perky. My sand rug was made in 1991 and has been in use ever since- it is in handspun Jacob with a cotton warp. I separated out the brown and white fleece for spinning and then plyed three different combinations. It was woven on  a four shaft loom using twill weave so as not to let the cotton warp show. The design was the best I could think of to use the three yarn combinations and ended up looking like surf breaking on a beach. – hence the ‘Sand Rug’. The warp fringe wore away a long time ago, luckily the inch of starter warp/weft continues to hold it together.