So, you hit the web looking for stuff on Morris Dancing or entoptic imagery and you found, instead, that Anderson's put up an embroidery pattern. Don't you just hate it when that happens?

We all have our foibles and this is what happens when you let an engineer loose on a long journey with a dead laptop battery. The owl is an age-old symbol for spirituality; this one is inspired by images from the early Christian period in England. Not strictly cross-stitch, because there's more backstitch in it, I'm kinda pleased with it. And, Sue likes the one I did for her, anyway.

 
Stitched on 18-count Aida, the design will just fit into one of the standard 30mm diameter acrylic keyrings which are available from various craft outlets. Colour choice is a matter of personal taste, but, for a challenge, try using pale grey Aida and stitching the design using one strand of dark grey stranded cotton and one of metallic silver number 4 braid (the finest one that's not monofilament).

Experienced stitchers will know that the metallic stuff, as well as being ruinously expensive, is also stretchy and almost frictionless, so that the combination tangles and knots as soon as your concentration lapses. Fortunately you only need about two meters of thread and the back of the design will be hidden, so you can use the old engineering solution of slicing the knot out with a craft knife and catching the resulting tail under the rework.

I've found that the easiest way to mount these things is to discard the backing provided with the keyring and instead stick 50mm masking tape to the back of the finished design. Then, draw round the outside of the circular acrylic "lid" with a soft pencil and trim to the inside of the line. The tape will hold the fabric together long enough to get the design lined up in the keyring at which point one adds a neat piece of cotton backing and crams the lid on before it all unravels.