Note tons absorbed in needlework (8)
I believe the answer is:
crotchet
'note' is the definition.
(musical note)
'tons absorbed in needlework' is the wordplay.
'tons' becomes 't'.
'absorbed in' is an insertion indicator.
'needlework' becomes 'crochet' (crochet is a kind of needlework).
't' put inside 'crochet' is 'CROTCHET'.
(Other definitions for crotchet that I've seen before include "In music, it has quarter the time value of a whole note" , "Two quavers as one note" , "as mark scored" , "Quarter of a semibreve" , "One in bar" .)