Galina Khmeleva and Orenburg Knitted Lace

There are women who are talented. There are women who are amazing. There are women who are inspiring. Galina Khmeleva is all of these plus so many more.

I recently had the pleasure of attending one of Galina's workshop on Orenburg Lace in Newburyport, MA. Kelly, a wonderful new friend of the shop, mentioned the class to me and luckily there was still an opening! Julia - thank you, thank you , thank you - hosted the event at a wonderful inn run by the charming and talented RoseAnn (whom I hope to have come in and run a Knitting with Fabric workshop).

Galina entertained 9 of us with the history of the women in the Orenburg region who make these wonderful shawls as well as starting us on our own Orenburg Design Shawl. As we started our shawls, Galina praised us, scolded us and guided us through any anxieties that we may have had while sharing tips with us from perfect edging purl slip stitches to needle size selection for perfect gauge based solely on yarn selection.

Lovely little disks of fun yarn - Zephry Lace Weight - coupled with Addi Lace needles and the desire to do good lace equals one really cool swatch!

Ta Da! My days lace work!

What makes the Orenburg shawls different from others? Patterning on both sides, no purl stitches (except the edged slip as if to purl stitch), and lovely, lovely patterning that is easy to follow and accordingly to Galina, eventually becomes intuitive as you are working on the pattern!

Galina will be visiting with us and teaching a 2-day class - we have yet to nail down the dates but it should be within the year. This is not to be missed! If you are a lace fan, let us know and we are happy to put you on the waiting/call list. She is wonderful!

Oh, and to end off a perfect day of lace knitting - the purchases.....
1 Orenburg Shawl - (How could I resist especially after I found out that one of these takes an experiened Orenburg knitter 290 hours to make!) Plus, it keeps me warm already as I work through my lace knitting - currently Mystery Stole 3 but I am eyeing a certain Orenburg in my newly "signed" books by Galina :)

2 skeins of silvery-beige 55% Silk, 45% Cashmere lace weight Skaska Designs yarn in 1650 yd sks

2 skeins of springy green 55% Silk, 45% Cashmere lace weight Skaska Designs yarn in 1650 yd sks - I just LOVE this color - note 1 has already been wound!

What's not to love about it all!!!! Excellent class, amazing teacher and fellow lace knitters, perfect location, wonderful potluck lunch, wonderful yarn to purchase and amazing shawls to buy! Well, maybe 290 hours is a long time, but maybe sleeping is overrated!

Hee hee!