Back from my Orenburg knitting class

 

I returned this week from the 2 day Orenburg lace knitting class with Galina Khmeleva at the Lace Museum in Sunnyvale, California.  I had a wonderful time and learned more than I thought possible in two days!

I can't wait to tell you all about it, but first a report on my lace shawl from Russia that I took for Galina to look at.  The shawl I received as a gift while living in Russia in 1975 is the one on the right in the photo above.  Next to it on the left is a very fine Orenburg shawl that I purchased from Galina at the class.  Galina's assessment of my shawl is that it is Russian made by a skilled knitter but was not made in Orenburg.  The main telling factor is the number of holes in each edge "tooth".  Orenburg shawls have a distinctive pattern of 5 holes on each side of each edge tooth.  My shawl has six holes on each side of each tooth.  That is the main difference.  Another difference is that the yarn used to knit my shawl appears to be machine spun, whereas all Orenburg shawls are knit from handspun yarn from goats that live only in Orenburg that is plied with a little bit of fine silk for strength and durability. Galina thinks my shawl is goat fiber machine spun with viscous rather than silk.  So, I have a very nice Russian shawl, but it is not an authentic Orenburg.  As Galina said, "Your shawl never spent the night in Orenburg."  Happily, I learned how to mend a couple of places where holes have worn in the pattern, and I learned how to wash and block my shawl.

And now for some photos of the class and our work:

 

 

We knit these little lace samplers to practice the motifs found in Orenburg knitting.  Each pattern has a name.  Here you can see mouseprints. The yarn Galina gave us to us is Jagar spun 50% wool and 50% silk.

 

My first little lace sampler piece in which I practiced mouseprints and a knit-off bind off technique.  Also shown here is a stainless steel knitting needle from Orenburg (Orenburg is a steel producing region) and two little bobbins with more wool/silk yarn.

 

More bobbins of yarn.

A map of Russia.  Orenburg is situated at the base of the Ural Mountains in central Russia, just north of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, both in Central Asia on the old silk route.  Now that Uzbekistan is a separate country, Orenburg has lost its source of fine silk.

Here we learned how to block a little lace shawl sampler.

 

And here is my simple little sample shawl that I knit in fingering weight yarn.  I started it the week before class, using instructions from one of Galina's books.  I grafted the final corner (the upper left) with a little help from Galina in class.  Then I wove in the ends and blocked it at home.  Not bad, don't you think?  Now that I understand the construction of the shawl, it seems definitely within the realm of possibilities for me to eventually knit a lace weight Orenburg style shawl, if I am persistent and practice enough.  

Okay, here are the rest of the photos:

 

 

Hand made bobbin lace from linen (flax) grown and handspun in Orenburg.

My second attempt at lace weight Orenburg motifs.  I'm getting the motifs reasonably well, but my tension is uneven and the edges are abysmal.  Much practicing is needed to master working with fine lace weight yarn!

 

More photos of the shawl I bought.