At times there are things lost in translation. At times there are methods of
construction and logic lost in translation. I'm came across of one of such cases recently regarding Russian warm shawl method
of construction from Orenburg region, Russia.
There are several regional ways.
I'll point 2 most common:
Way of Orenburg warm shawl: lace shawl borer, wide border, solid or lace
center.
These shawls are constructed in several pieces and grafted at the end. Why? The
weight, the size, the straight needles, the health of the knitter are taken
into the account. The center (body) is done first, then 4 wide borders then
'obvyazka' - the connection piece attached to the center, and then all is
grafted together.
Way of Rostov, Volograd and several other middle of the Russia regions that
make shawl from goat down:
The shawl is also knit in parts starting from 2 borders outer corner and
then knit up. the size of these is less at it's maximum compared to the largest
shawls of Orenburg and they also may have less lace in them, most of the lace
is in the border.
Now, in the latest Interweave's Piecework magazine May-June issue I
discovered an article "An Orenburg Warm Shawl to Knit" and the
pattern to go with it. That one did catch my attention as the Orenburg warm
shawls is one of my most favorite things to knit. And it was a family thing,
and many of my friends knit these for themselves and for living.
The way how the Orenburg shawl is constructed did not change for a very long
time. This particular article has several significant differences between how
it's suggested to make one of these and how the locals do it for a very long
time in Orenburg region. I'd say the article's way I did not see in any of the regions in Russia where a
shawl came from and I've collected a good amount for myself or friends or
family (they love warm shawls... very practical and very pretty item).
Let's review the way how it's constructed in the Piecework article.
Lost in translation N1: "Notes: All four borders are two-segment
borders. The first
segment is worked as a straight piece. e second segment is picked
up perpendicular along the ‑rst segment. Slip the ‑rst stitch of each
row (unless binding o) purlwise with yarn in front. Join all four
borders together with right side facing you so that all teeth will
face in the same direction."
Let's talk about that. When someone knits a warm shawl in Orenburg region
they start with the body first. the body is done with lace or without. Then
they make 4 lace borders. The needles are straight, so the knitter does it this
way for speed and o prevent repetitive hands injury: large heavy knit pieces
worked 8 and more hours a day are less beneficial. Then they put the wide border
again the body and see if they need a join piece due to the design or any other
reason. If the body and the wide border knit without a written pattern match,
the whole thing is grafted, it's done and washed and blocked. If there is a
need to adjust, the 'obvyaska' comes into place, it's called this way because
the knitter "obvyazyvaet" (knits around the body) the body. the
Obvyaska is attached to the body of the shawl, not to the wide border. It makes
no sense to do some extra something on the side of the wide border if one could
knit it all as one piece to begin with. it' not the most preferred thing to
attach stuff on the left side of the work among right handed knitters. And many
do not like to attach something to the narrowest side of the wide border.
The wide borders are not bone in segments in Orenburg region. That's a thing
N1 lost in translation between the Russian way of doing this and English
description in an American magazine.
Lost in translation N2:
"With separate needles and RS facing, pick up 66 sts
total (51 sts along Section 1 and 15 sts along Section 2)
along diagonal edges of each border. Gra sts tog using
Russian graing method, beg at Section 2 and working
toward the outer (CO and BO) edge of Section 1. Secure
last st with safety pin. Tie tog the ends of the CO and BO
and sew tog gap that is created. Use same ends to secure
last graing st that is on the safety pin."
So what is described here is joining 2 corners of 2 wide borders. 2 things
are lost in the translation. First is the type of the yarn. It's a lace weight
yarn, worsted yarn or semi-worsted in English spinner's vocabulary. This yarn
has little to no bounce back. The second is the type of grafting that works
together with the yarn. Like many things in folk art the hand spun yarn and the
shawl pattern work together in the piece, they are never apart. Plug and play
methodology does not always work. Things get lost in translation.
Let’s review what happens when one picks up the stitches from the side and
does Russian grafting the seam starts to get tighter and will get rather tight
when blocked. It roots in physics. The yarn tension of Russian grafting will increase
because the stitches are positioned as X, hypotenuse is longest side of a
triangle, they yarn has no give, it does create more tension and tighter seam. What
one ends up with if a shawl where corner grafting is tight, the lace is more
relaxed and the body-wide border grafted join is also tight. Russian granny
avoids this unfortunate event (as the shawl itself will have not a good shape
with wear, no returning customer means no good). They do either of 2
things:
Grafting with yarn. this produces less tight grafting. and this way is not
described in the article I'm referencing, but is described in several other sources
in Russian for example. the grafting in a way resembles what Western knitter
knows as Kitchener stitch. It's is not exactly the same, just similar.
Graft with yarn and create live stitches on the sides. So the Russian
grafting (also known as grafting without yarn locally) does not create too tight
seam. A granny would “knit” the edge versus picking up the live stitches. One
that made the edge looser intentionally would not do that, because she did
allow for ‘hypotenuse’ extra length not even thinking about all the math.
Closer the lace in the wide border and in the body comes to the grafting,
more attention one would pay to the grafted seam itself, so that shawl has good
shape with wear.
Does the shawl pictured in the article have a tight grafting seam? It does,
even being made of Mongolian cashmere which has good amount more give and drape
when compared to Orenburg hand spun yarns plied with silk or cotton.
Lost in translation N3:
This one is more lost in translation than other 2 if I may put it this way.
"
Body,
Note: To join side stitches to body, knit the last body
stitch together with the next side stitch and return stitch
to le -hand needle, turn.
There are 179 sts each on bottom borders and each
side border. Transfer bottom border sts to cir needle and
each side border sts to separate cir needles. With RS facing,
join yarn to right edge of bottom border sts. Work
Rows 1–34 of Body Chart, then rep Rows 11–34 thirteen
more times, then work Rows 35–46, joining body to sides
with k2tog at end of every row—179 sts rem; all side sts
joined to body.
Join top border with live sts from body
"
This one is the most interesting, because I've never seen anyone do this or
a shawl that was done this way... when body is knit and attached at the same
time to the sides (wide borders). Normally a folk knitter makes the body as one
piece.
here is the chart and the symbols used in the
article to illustrate what am I talking about
Why would one knit first wide border, then knit
on the inner side of it 'obvyaska', make all of these and then knit the body
together with 3 sides is quite a bit puzzling for me. For 2 reasons: it's
heavier about 3 times than making just the body alone. It's a lot slower.
Now let's think how one would do 2.5-3m wide
warm what this way? one has say 1m wide border or 60cm wide border on each side
(think 60x2.5m trapezium) hanging on the sides of straight needles and pulling.
Does it sound bulky? Does it sound heavy? Why would one not make an entire
shawl bottom up if they go into all that knitting together trouble in the first
place?
Orenburg knitters have the sequence somewhat
wise versa to what is described in the article. The Orenburg way got lost in
translation.
Orenburg granny or a younger knitter makes the
body first. Its straight needles. Then 1 wide border is made and put next to
the body to see if this works (for a new shawl design) or all 4 are made if
it's knit in the zone. Then obvyaska is knit to the body if this is necessary.
Then the wide borders are grafted to the body like so: 2 wide borders are
grafted to top and bottom of the body with obvyazka. Then 2 other borders are
grafted in corners and to the sides of the body in the sequence: outer corner
towards the body, along side of the body and obvyazka, next corner is grafted
from inside corner towards outside corner.
Main thing lost in translation is the outlook
of a Russian knitter, I mean back home things are not made to be very
complicated in lace. The method of construction of a small warm shawl 80cm-1m
square made by a 7y old child is just the same her mother or granny makes in
1.5-3meters square range. The way 15cm wide border is done is the same way 1m wide lace
border is done for a museum or competition shawl. No one teaches children
differently than adults, it makes no sense to have one way of making a small
shawl and another of making a big one. Things are a lot simpler than they are
presented to English speaking knitters in some magazines and articles. It is a
simple in it's core lace and it's logical and pragmatic outlook that did grow
into an art form admired by many.
I can see the magazine trying to save on the
page space, one could cut one page of chit-chat and story from the beginning of
the article to put a wider chart in here and describe the method of
construction that is common for the region, the article title is “An Orenburg
Warm Shawl to Knit”, it only seems logical to describe the way how it's done in Orenburg versus inventing the own plug and play way...
PS: here is the illustration how a tight grafting looks like
this seam is at the blocking limit tight, the rest if the lace around it is not. I stepped on that one with cashmere myself. Orenburg hand spun yarns are less forgiving than cashmere. If the lace does not bounce back relaxed to the length of the blocked seam, this can be a trouble an lead to the loss of shape of the shawl as one wears it. In Russian this side effect is called "платок ведет", "полотно повело", "платок вспучился", "платок отвис", "середка отвисла", "кайму повело".
