Penny’s Garden Weaving

Penny brings a little cardboard loom into the garden. Cream threads stretch from one end to the other. Mrs Bell offers blue and green yarn. Penny wants to weave a small picture of the pond.

She carries green yarn over one thread and under the next. On the return row, she changes the order. Soon the weaving begins to hold together. Penny pulls each row tight because she wants it to stay strong.

The sides creep inwards. Instead of a wide pond, Penny has a narrow waist in the middle. She pulls the next row harder. The threads bend even more. “It is getting smaller,” she says.

Mrs Bell helps her loosen the last few rows. Penny lays the yarn in a gentle curve before pressing it down. There is enough slack for the thread to travel over and under without tugging the sides together.

Penny weaves another row, checking the edges with her fingers. This time, they stay almost straight. A small gap remains beside one thread. She slides the yarn gently into place rather than pulling the whole row.

Halfway up, she changes to blue. She leaves a wavy line where blue meets green. A short length of pale yarn becomes a ripple across the water. Mrs Bell helps tuck the loose ends behind the weaving.

Penny lifts the finished piece from the loom with Mrs Bell’s help. The first rows are narrower than the last ones. She considers undoing them, then holds the weaving beside the pond and notices its uneven banks.

“This side can be the little inlet,” Penny decides. She lays her pond on the garden table. It is soft, slightly crooked and full of tiny spaces. She runs a finger along the edge that taught her to leave some slack.