Anatolian Knitting Designs: Sivas Stocking Patterns Collected in an Istanbul Shantytown

140 Pages·1981·52.71 MB·English

by  Betsy Harrell

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DESIGNS

Sivas Stocking Patterns
Collected in an
Istanbul Shantytown

by
Betsy Harrell

drawings by
Betsy Harrell

REDHOUSE PRESS
Yeyinevine aittir

from Sivas province; they are knitted in long-wearing, scratchy, colorfast,
OEDICATED
TO THE
VILLAGE KNITTERS

Hisar Usti Noe
ELigi YAPANLARA
SUNUYORUM
103

mM
3
ng

121
125
125
127
132
133

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Introduction

PART ONE: THE DESIGNS
The Stitches on Graph Paper
About the Patterns
Orientation in the Field
Cherecteristics
Uses
Origins
Meanings, Messages and Traditions in Designs and Colors
The Breakdown of Tradition

PART TwO: APPENDICES
The Shantytown and the Work of Community Crafts

Historical Notes on Knitting and on the Wearing of
Stockings

Influences from Central Asia

How to Knit Stockings in the Willow Tree Pattern
Notes
Oirections for Knitting

Turkish Names of Community Crafts Designs

Works Consulted

Map of Asia
ACKNOWL EOGMENTS

It is my pleasure to thank
Carol Macomber and Ann Parker for sterting the record of villege de-
signs esround 1967-68;

Tiraje Mallinder and Esin Godurodlu for help with translations from
Turkish;

Fatma Yomak for advice on village questions;
G6nUl Cerrehoglu for sssistance in interviewing;

Avis Merrell, Chandlee Harrell end Debbie Lufburrow for research in
Princeton, London and Berkeley;

Mergeret Ryffel for sharing her expertise in the art of knitting;
Megole Quigley for bibliography suggestions;

Robert Avery (former Senior Editor at the Redhouse Press), Sryent
Herrell, Oksana end Loring Taylor, Pat Hickman, Ruth Ibrahim, Mary
Alice Shepard, Serbere Ajemi, Sylvie Meyer and Shirley Yalmen for
thoughtful reading of the manuscript and invaluable commentery;

end -- especially --

William A, Edmonds, my Editor-Publisher at the Redhouse Press, for
his feith in this work, his devotion in the face of daunting obsta-
cles peculiar to the present situation in Turkey, and his unfailing,
optimistic helpfulness.
TNTROOUCTION

Many hand-knitted Turkish stockings qualify es important native
ert because of the fine craftsmanship that goes into their production
of the beeuty, feeling end meaning in their compositions
Long ago the desions which Turkish peasant women knitted

heritage. Now, however,
this heritage is being lost. ants in Turkey still
knit as before, many others have relinquished the art. Oesigns and
even the tradition of knitting stockings are rapidly vanishing under
the influences of modern living. Since Turks rarely think of their
traditional handmade stockings as art forms, the knitted wear is sel-
dom preserved, researched or exhibited.

This book records designs observed in the stocking art of parts
of Sivas province, a region of central Anatolia (the Asian part of
Turke Stockings knitted in the patterned Sivas style are among the
most beautiful in the whole of Turkey. The book also provides some
beckground material on these designs.

Stockings very considerably from one region of Turkey to another.
Colors differ widely because individuel end regional testes and tra-
ditions differ and because (until recently) the dyes for wool depend-
®d upon the natural products found in each region. Materials differ
too; some areas favor cotton and some wool, although wool is far more
common. Sivas stockings are of wool since the province gets quite
cold in winter. The manner of knitting -- that is, the turning of a
heel or the finishing of a toe -- can likewise vary from one knitter
‘and region to another. Even though Sivas stockings are famous for
their fine patterns, some villagers in Sivas and elsewhere knit plain
stockings with little or no pattern. Certain motifs sre typical of
certain regions and even of certain villa On the other hand, some-
P times the seme motif will be observed across a wide area of Turkey,
though it may be called by various names in different localities.
The women who knitted the stocking designs shown in this book
learned their craft years ago in their villages of Anatolia. Segin-
Ming in the 1950's and continuing until the present, these knitters
and their families have been migrating from Anatolia to a windy hill-
side on whet thirty years ago was the fringe of Istanbul. There they
have squatted. When they climb to the top of the hill above their
homes they view one of the loveliest sights in the world: the towers
‘and crenellations of a famous fifteenth-century castle, the blue
waters of the nerrow Sosphorus, ships of many nations sailing by, and
the hills of Anatolia beyond. The name of their shantytown-village
sounds poetic and strange in English but not in Turkish; it is celled
Above Rumeli Castle, or simply Above the Castle for short (Rumeli
Hisar Usti, or Hisar Us

Since 1963 many of the women of this village have been knitting
patterned stockings for Community Crafts, a cottage industry they
belong to. Other members of Community Crafts sre responsible for
ordering and marketing the knitwear. The motifs in the following
collection were taken from stockings produced in Hisar Usti during
the course of Community Crafts work between the years 1966 and 1978.
Part One:
THE DESIGNS
THE STITCHES ON GRAPH PAPER

The following designs are recorded on graph paper so thet indi-
vidual stitches can be counted. The petterns are arranged alphebet-
ically according to the English translations of their nemes. For
those who are more familiar with the Turkish osttern names, an alphe-
betical list in Turkish is provided on page 132, It occasionally
happens thet a villager knits stockings with a design that no one
knows the name cf: such motifs of unknown name ere to be found on
Pages 79 to 90. Sole stitches are shown on page 91 and 92.