When the repairs are finished, the darning egg is removed.

Her hands were motionless holding the current sock on the darning egg.

At least one was an alabaster darning egg.

Nyoda finally came to the rescue and diverted his attention by giving him her darning egg to chew.

Granny looked at the cops over the rims of her ancient spectacles and her old fingers went lax on the darning egg.

The artists have placed objects such as a dressmaker's figure, pots, pans, baskets, rolling pins, darning eggs and rug-beaters at the center of their works.

This time Keisha sat in her favorite chair with bqth hands full of a sock, a wooden darning egg, a blunt needle, and wool yarn.

Place a support underneath the needle, a darning egg for a sock, for example, or an adhesive cloth for a tear in fabric.

Id really hate to think it might have been Bobby, Bree said, frowning as she pushed a wooden darning egg into the heel of a sock.

A shell of the tiger cowry Cypraea tigris, a popular ornament in Europe and elsewhere, was also sometimes used as a ready-made darning egg.

"While I worked on the face," said Mr. Courtier, "the body supported a head that looked like a giant darning egg without any features except a peg for the nose."

Large cowry shells such as that of a Cypraea tigris have been used in Europe in the recent past as a darning egg over which sock heels were stretched.

A darning egg is an egg-shaped ovoid of stone, porcelain, wood, or similar hard material, which is inserted into the toe or heel of the sock to hold it in the proper shape and provide a firm foundation for repairs.

WOMEN with determination, needle and thread are an enduring image of American history, from Betsy Ross and her flag to pioneer women sitting at looms or bent over a darning egg in the light of an oil lamp.