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Folk Crafts

Crocheting Sackcloth Mats is One of the Traditional Needleworks in the Upper Don

According to the dictionary by S.I.Ozhegov, sackcloth is a coarse rough fabric woven from flax or hemp; clothes. Cossack women crocheted sackcloth mats (deryuzhka) with a wooden hooked needle (a crochet). They used remains of fabrics and worn out garments, cut them into long strips and wound them into balls. The resulting mats were motley, dense and durable to be used for years.

The sackcloth mats were widely used in everyday life; long orthogonal mats were used to cover benches for interior decoration and home comfort, round small mats were used on stools and armchairs. In the houses with adobe floors crocheted sackcloth mats were put on the floor near beds, or they were often hung on the wall to keep warmth and to decorate the interior. Wealthy Cossacks also used crocheted sackcloth mats to cover wooden floors in their houses.

M.A.Sholokhov frequently mentions this article of housewear in everyday life of Cossacks. In the short story “Alyoshka’s Heart”: “Alyoshka came back from the club at midnight.  For a long time he tossed and turned on his bed of a sackcloth mat.”

In the novel “And Quiet Flows the Don”:”A strong trembling shook Mishka’s body. His teeth chattering, he lay down on the sackcloth mat brought by Mishatka, took off his cap and covered his face with it.” (Book 2, chapter 8).

In the novel “Virgin Soil Upturned”: “The windows were closely draped on  the inside with sackcloth mats, the shutters were bolted...” (Book 1, chapter 27).

Irina Ivanovna Berezovskaya, a master from StanitsaVyoshenskaya, born in 1942, retained the knowledge of the ancient crocheting technology after her grandmother. Raising five children Irina Ivanovna was creative and quick in making comfort in her house; she crocheted many things and made clothes and different housewear including round and orthogonal mats.

She willingly shared her secrets of crocheting traditional sackcloth mats.

Fabric wastes or old worn out things are cut into long strips of different width, wound into balls according to colour. Crocheting begins with making a slip on the crochet hook (which in old times was made of wood) with the tape (the strip) which is twisted to form a loop.

To make a round mat, first a chain of some air loops is crocheted (the number of loops depends on the strip thickness), then the beginning and end of the chain are connected to form a circle. The crocheting continues with making loops without slips. In each row extra loops are evenly added. This is how the whole thing is crocheted.

A rectangular mat is usually crocheted across the width of the thing. Crocheting begins with one loop, then a loop chain of necessary size is made, then the first line of loops is crochetted. After the line is complete, an extra loop is made to turn to starting the second line. Then the pattern goes on repeating.

Usually the masters use strips of different colours to make the article bright. To do this, in the process of crocheting the strip is cut and connected (with a knot) with that of another colour. And so, changing strips of different colours the masters crocheted the article of a desired size. In the process of crocheting, the strips of no less than five colours are used.