A Love Letter to Galina Khmeleva & the Orenburg Lace Shawl

One of the best parts of my job as a video producer for Interweave is getting to know the instructors. And by “know,” I mean not simply sharing meals on sets and following their Instagram feeds. I mean becoming friends with them, going to their house, and shoving knitting to one side of the couch so that I can sit and pet their cat. I mean exchanging recipes and gossip, and trading cakes for garden produce. I mean being able to make fun of someone to her face, while deeply respecting and loving the person she is.

Meet Galina Khmeleva

Before I met Galina Khmeleva in person, I knew only that she was Russian and knit beautiful lace. I expected a wise and kindly grandmother type. I got, instead, a tough businesswoman with a sharp tongue, strong opinions, and a hugely generous heart. Galina, who grew up in Stalinist Russia, lives today in Fort Collins in what looks like Hansel and Gretel’s cottage. It was while producing a video workshop on the Orenburg Warm Shawl that I got to know Galina and got to understand her devotion to Orenburg lace and the women who knit it.

Galina is largely responsible for documenting and helping preserve traditional Orenburg lace knitting. Known as “gossamer webs,” Orenburg shawls are knitted from the handspun down of Orenburg goats. Though measuring as large as 4 feet on each side, shawls are fine enough to be drawn through a wedding ring. (Trust me, I have seen Galina do this.) The story behind the shawls is fascinating. Frail as they look, these shawls supported a cottage industry in rural Russia for decades. Entire villages would knit shawls for export, and the small stipend that the Soviet government paid the knitters was enough to support a household. Remarkably, there were no written patterns; women memorized lace motifs and passed them down to daughters, granddaughters, and nieces, who had already learned how to spin incredibly fine yarn for the shawls at an early age.

Interweave @ Home

There are ten of these Orenburg lace motifs, all with playful names like “mouse paws” and “big strawberry”. In her upcoming Interweave @ Home class, Galina will teach you all about these motifs. You’ll learn what they are and how to combine them to create stunning shawls. Students will complete a small lace swatch and learn other shawl construction techniques like “Russian grafting,” (which isn’t grafting at all, but is incredibly cool and easy to do).

Please join Galina on March 15 or 17 for a 3-hour Zoom class. Students will receive a pdf of all 10 motifs and practice charts, as well as the sampler pattern.

Watch a preview of the The Orenburg Warm Shawl.

If you’re already excited for Galina’s Interweave @ Home class, get ready for it by taking her course on the Orenburg Warm Shawl to learn all about Orenburg lace!

Never stop learning,
Allison

Originally posted February 17, 2020. Updated February 28, 2022.

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