Russian Scarf: Orenburg Shawls.

Have you ever heard about a wedding ring shawl? This is an English name for Orenburg scarf. These scarves are made in only one region of Russia, Orenburg Oblast. The wool down of Orenburg Goats is considered one of the finest in the world. To compare:

Cashmere wool down 14 - 30 mic

Orenburg goats wool down 16-18 mic

Angora 22-24 mic

Human hair 50-90 mic

It takes about 150 hours of handmade work to create a shawl like this from spinning the wool down to knitting, washing and drying a shawl. The sizes of these handmade scarves are never consistent. An interesting fact: a new, never worn shawl is not very fluffy and looks a little flat. When you start to wear it it regains its fluffiness.

Orenburg shawls are very popular in Russia for it,s warmth and beauty. In 2018, a Russian spaceman Oleg Kononenko took one of them into space and it made 3264 turns around the Earth. Now this shawl is kept in Orenburg’s Museum Of the Fine Arts.

This shawl is about 30 years old and belonged to my grandmother. Surprisingly, this

scarf is in very good shape for such an advanced age. I remember my grandmother to wear this scarf in cold Russian winters, this one was one of her favorites.

Here are 2 videos on how you can wear is as a headscarf or a neck scarf.

I hope you like it!