Gulnisa Iskhakovna

About the craftswoman

“I started knitting late, at 10,” Gulnisa Iskhakovna laughs.

By the standards of most craftswomen, this is indeed a rather late start. Nevertheless, it did not prevent Gulnisa Iskhakovna from becoming a professional knitter of Orenburg down shawls and successfully passing the craft on to her descendants.

Borders for pies and the cinema

Her mother taught her to knit. Like many in those years, Gulnisa Iskhakovna's mother and grandmother worked for the down-knitting cooperative and accustomed the children to work and the craft.

“Our parents were strict, but we also understood the need to work,” she says. “And it wasn't as if we were forced. We knitted borders for the cooperative and were paid real money for them — back then it could buy as many as 4 pies and a cinema ticket.”

In those same years Gulnisa Iskhakovna knitted her first shawl.

“I went to a neighbour's,” she recalls, “and as an experiment she gave me ready-made yarn. She said: try knitting it yourself. I didn't like twisting yarn, but knitting came easily to me. When the woman saw the result, she said: ‘You should try knitting for the down workshop.’”

That is how the craftswoman's professional career began.

When the whole school knitted

“I remember the whole school knitted back then,” says Gulnisa Iskhakovna. “Back then, if you didn't knit, it was nonsense. Now it's nonsense if you do,” she laughs. “We'd go to the river and take yarn with us. We'd sit and knit there so as not to lose time and money. When we stayed for after-school care, we sometimes knitted instead of doing homework. If the teachers noticed, they didn't scold or interfere — they understood the situation well.”

Besides working for the down workshop, Gulnisa Iskhakovna, while still a schoolgirl, went to the flea market and sold down shawls herself. Altogether it brought a decent income, and, according to her, the family never went short.

There she also got her first experience of knitting goat-down clothing, demand for which has grown noticeably today.

“Up to 4 vests a month — that was our quota,” the craftswoman says. “5 vests was already exceeding the quota. But they demanded 5 from us.”

Among like-minded women

Gulnisa Iskhakovna moved to Saraktash at 30 and was glad to find herself among her own people, where practically everyone knits. Now she works at Shalnoy Orenburg and is sincerely grateful that a modern down workshop has appeared in the Orenburg Region.

From the long interview with the craftswoman you will learn how competitions of young knitters were held, what “playing for sweet wrappers” is, and other interesting details from the life of the down-knitting community.

We thank Gulnisa Iskhakovna for her work and for the informative interview. And the doors of Shalnoy Orenburg are always open to talented craftswomen.