The Lace Shawls of Orenburg in Russia

The city of Orenburg lies just west of the Ural Mountains, on the steppes of Russia. Since its founding almost 300 years ago it's been a popular trade center, linking originally with the riches of the Far East and more recently with points west-Europe and North America. One of its most popular exports is the product of a craft tradition almost as old as the city itself-the Orenburg lace shawl.

A brief history
It's not certain exactly when the people of Orenburg discovered that their goats were useful for something more than milk production. But it does seem that the knitting of fine lace shawls was begun soon after the founding of the city in 1735, because it was not long after this that there was a concerted, and successful, effort made to turn shawl knitting into a cottage industry.

The shawls made by the women of Orenburg were of such high quality that they brought a high price on the international market. In fact, the merchants who bought them, in an effort to reduce their costs, tried exporting first the goat fiber and later the goats themselves to other parts of Europe. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for Orenburg!), the fiber was no less costly, and the goats, once they were removed from their ideal environment, began to grow hair that was of much poorer quality. In effect, Orenburg had a monopoly of the materials used to make the shawls.

Like any other industry, cottage or otherwise, shawl knitting has had its ups and downs. By the beginning of the 20th century shawl production was at its highest, with more than 12,000 women knitting more than 35,000 shawls a year. But at this same time the quality of the shawls became less predictable due to the addition of inferior materials, like poor quality cotton, to save costs.

After the Russian Revolution, though, many cottage industries were officially recognized and supported by the government. This helped improve quality, and the Orenburg Down Center-the Kombinat-was founded to provide quality control as well as supplies, equipment, and marketing services.

The Kombinat remained open until 1995, when unstable economic conditions after the breakup of the Soviet Union caused it to shut down. Shawl knitting is still being done in the villages around Orenburg, but the industry is much less organized. However, the master knitters have also kept busy teaching their skills not only to the girls and young women of the area, but also to interested foreigners many thousands of miles away-in the United States, for instance. And the shawls are still being sold at high prices.

Shawl materials
Orenburg shawls have traditionally been made from yarn that is a blend of goat down and silk. The silk comes from nearby Uzbekistan and is spun as fine as sewing thread. The down is one of two fibers produced by the local goats; the other fiber is the long, coarse guard hairs. The down is the main insulator, so the goats are deliberately left outside all winter so they'll grown longer down fibers, in greater quantities, in response to the cold.

The down is removed from the goats once a year in February and March by combing. Unlike sheep, whose wool is removed by shearing, Orenburg goats are never shorn, because shorn fiber sheds more and makes a poorer quality yarn. But this does increase the cost of production, because shearing is much faster and can be done with electric tools, while combing must be done manually.

After the fiber is combed it must be washed and the guard hairs removed-once again by hand-so that only the very soft down remains. Then it's spun into yarn, either by hand (the traditional way) or machine (the faster, more modern way). The strand of spun down is then plied (twisted) around the strand of silk.

Shawl-making techniques
Orenburg shawls are square or rectangular, and are made of knitted lace. The stitch patterns are usually geometric, and the diamond shape is quite popular. Sometimes there is a center design with different borders, and sometimes the same design is repeated over the entire shawl. Some shawls, to save on costs, have machine-knitted centers which are usually done in plain stockinette stitch (knit stitches on one side and purl stitches on the other).

Orenburg knitters today may follow a written or graphed pattern, but traditionally they worked from memory. As they designed new patterns they would pass them along to their daughters, granddaughters, and other knitters so that the patterns wouldn't be lost.

Shawls that are made from the finest (thinnest) yarn are knitted on extremely thin needles (sized 000-0), and usually weigh less than two ounces. They conform to the tradition of the "wedding ring shawl," because the entire shawl is fine enough that it can be pulled through a wedding ring. There is also a slightly thicker yarn which produces a heavier, warmer shawl; for these shawls, needles size 1-2 are used.

Originally all shawls were made in only one color, from natural-colored yarn (white, light gray, or dark gray). Eventually, though, the knitters began designing two- and even three-color patterns. And some shawls today are made from yarn that has been dyed.

The process of shawl-knitting is tedious and time-consuming, but even after the knitting is finished there's still work to be done. The shawl must be checked for remaining guard hairs and those hairs removed. And finally the shawl must be washed and its size set by blocking, either on a flat surface or a frame. Before blocking the shawl resembles nothing more than a crumpled-up ball of yarn; it is blocking that brings out the stitch patterns and reveals the true beauty of the entire piece.

The lace shawls of Orenburg could be considered just another cottage industry. But like the lace made by Irish women and the bamboo baskets of the Japanese, this "industry" has now been recognized worldwide-as have the creative talents of its workers.