About the craft
How to Measure an Orenburg Down Shawl Correctly
For every knitter creating an Orenburg down shawl, each item is her own unique creation. The craftswoman's approach to the shawl is also unique throughout the whole making process. This applies to measurements. Among down-knitting craftswomen, the usual units have never been customary; their unit of measurement is the number of stitches in a shawl. Naturally, an ordinary buyer wanting to measure a shawl will not count stitches and rows, which is why the size of down items is given in centimetres.
It is important to understand that, when converting into our usual system, the finished item is stretched on a frame. It is in the stretched state that the true size of a newly made down shawl in centimetres is correctly determined. At the same time, a completely new shawl in a sense "behaves" like a "living" item. When taken off the frame, the item "shrinks", the distance between rows decreases, and accordingly, when measuring a shawl taken off the frame, its length may already be considerably smaller (but this is not its true size).
The same principle applies when packing and transporting down items. In fact, a shawl just taken out of its packaging should not be measured, since the value obtained in centimetres will not be the true size of the down shawl.
Naturally, firstly, you are unlikely to keep a frame at home. Secondly, "forcible" stretching is an absolutely unnecessary measure for measuring the true size of a down item. There is a much more natural way:
First, the down item taken out of its packaging should be fully spread out (it is important to remember that the stitches have most likely "settled" a little during packing and transport). Then the item can be carefully hung out, fully spread out, in windy or snowy weather. After some time your shawl can be measured; this way you will be able to establish its true size (with an error of no more than 10 cm).
The same applies to the process of wearing a down shawl. In a sense, one can say that the item "wears in", just as new shoes, for example, wear in over time. The process, as you remember, does not take long. In other words, after a short period of use, the item will measure slightly larger than before, yet the down shawl will not look "skimpy", because the "increase" comes from the down rising in the course of use.
So, the "true" size of a down shawl in centimetres is established either by stretching the item on a frame, or after the procedures described above, when the shawl is hung out spread out in cold, snowy or windy weather, or again by measuring it fully spread out after a certain period of use.
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