Tatyana Mikhailovna

About the craftswoman

Tatyana Mikhailovna is not at all shy of the cameras and correspondents of Shalnoy Orenburg: she speaks confidently and vividly and immediately takes the conversation into her own hands.

“We knitted from the age of 7, and quite confidently,” she says. “Our parents taught us, our grandmothers taught us — like everyone, probably. And we learned from each other too…”

Get-togethers and friendly rivalry

As Tatyana Mikhailovna recalls, every girl could knit her own patterns. On the one hand this created friendly rivalry among the young craftswomen; on the other, it allowed them to exchange experience.

“We looked at each other's patterns, asked each other to explain and show, exchanged knowledge,” she recalls. “We had these ‘get-togethers’ — that's what they were called. We'd gather in groups of 5–6 and knit.”

In early childhood all or almost all local children helped their parents spin, and a kind of competition arose among them: who could spin faster and better.

“If someone pulled far ahead, we'd carefully slip them some extra yarn,” Tatyana Mikhailovna recalls with a laugh. “We competed, of course — how could we not.”

The shawl as breadwinner

According to her, the down shawl has always been a good “breadwinner”, especially in the days when it was valued most of all.

“You know, whoever stayed at home was richer,” says Tatyana Mikhailovna. “If they could knit, of course. Shawls were very highly valued then, and there weren't so many fakes. Home knitters lived very well.”

In her work the craftswoman still feels an almost youthful excitement.

“First of all it has to be good quality,” she says. “If something's wrong — start again. I polish it to perfection. Then I get curious how quickly I can knit the item. A childish excitement, really.”

Traditions are alive

Tatyana Mikhailovna is very glad to work with us.

“It's good that I work with you. And why hide it, a shawl brings good extra income. And there are always orders.”

By the way, the tradition of get-togethers is still alive for Tatyana Mikhailovna and her friends. Those who gathered together in childhood still meet in the same groups today and knit wonderful items from Orenburg goat down.