Armenian Afghans

The Story

The Armenian Knitting Ladies were organized by the Tufenkian Foundation in December of 2000. The original goal was to provide christmas employment and some desperately needed income to 30 skilled knitters who were among the poorest women in the newly independent country of Armenia. Each woman was given dyed yarn and asked her to knit an "afghan" coverlet of a given size given the colors and design of her choosing.

As you can see, the results were astonishing.

As the finished goods were inspected by the Tufenkian staff they took a moment to understand more about the lives of the knitters who created these beautiful and unique afghans. They found themselves inspirited and uplifted by these stories on so many levels. First by the great skill, creativity and heart which was so clearly invested in each carefully created piece. Second, by the positive and courageous spirit with which they approached the difficulties of each day

What started as the work of just a few has evolved into a life changing experience for nearly 400 women.  Following are just a few of their stories.

If you are interested in having one of these beautiful warm 100% wool afghans then contact us.

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Shura Yerenyan

Shura Yerenyan has a bone missing between the shoulder and elbow of her right arm. After four surgeries for cancer and attempts to implant a prosthesis, Shura told the doctors just to take the bone out and let her learn to adapt.

And so when she sits in her small apartment in Yerevan to knit, Shura props her bad arm against the top of her couch and leans into it to keep her arm steady while her hands do artist's work.

She is 72, learned to knit at age 16, and worked for 45 years in a textile mill. Five years ago a son died, followed two years later by her husband. She has a daughter and another son in Russia, bus in ways that matter most, Shura is alone. "Conditions teach people everything," Shura says. And the condition of living on a $9 a month pension taught Shura that having her new job as a knitter is an unexpected gift.

"The most important thing in my life is that I have a job," Shura says. "The rest doesn't matter. This work keeps me from thinking or worrying. I am lost in my work."

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Seda Kazarian

"It is said that if you want to put a curse on someone you should wish for them to live during a transition period." Seda says.

In the transition period from Socialism to Democracy that is the present state Armenian, Seda is in a limbo of uncertainty, shared by her husband, Vachagan, who is also an out-of-work economist living on a combined $20 a month government salary.

As an employee of the state during Communist times, Seda specialized in financial reports for building construction .

"If the country were in normal condition s, I'd still be an economist.." Seda says.

Instead the 58 year old economist has turned a hobby into profit. She learned to knit at age 30 and made socks and sweaters for her family.

Now she makes afghans for strangers. And she is happy for the chance.

"When people are cold and they put on these afghans.," Seda says, they will get the warmth of my hands through the threads.

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Maria Tasagulova

In 1941 Maria Tasagulova was 14 years old and was knitting socks for soldiers fighting in World War II.

She learned to knit at age 10, and from January 1956 until June 1991, Maria used her skills in a Yerevan textile mill.

In a plastic bag that holds the few archives of her long live, Maria keeps a prayer book, a black and white photo of he son, Alec, and a certificate given her in 1982 "for long and hard work on behalf of the Supreme Council of the USSR."

Today, the reward for Maria's work is a regular income that she says is "a help from God."

Her husband died of diabetes in 1996 and Maria says she "was in very bad condition" until she started knitting afghans for Tufenkian Trans Caucasus in the spring of 2001.

Like many of her generation in the new Republic of Armenia, Maria has felt the curse of change more than its blessing.

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Mariam Pilafyan

Mariam Pilafyan's wide smile lights the otherwise dark room where the accumulations of a hard life can be measured in a glimpse.  She is 24. She was six when she knitted a dress for her doll. Now she has doll - sized children - a 19 month old boy and a 3-year old girl.

Her parents died when Mariam was 16. She met a man with whom she had the children, but no life. He moved to Moscow two years ago and nothing has been heard from him since.

Neighbors gave her food and clothes for the children. But there was no money for bread nor to pay for electricity.  But in the early spring of 2001, Mariam's fortune changed. "I knitted my first afghan on March 27," Mariam says.

Since that important date, Mariam has been able to get her own place and buy food and has even enrolled the children in kindergarten.  While she is knitting, Mariam daydreams of where her work might end up. "I know it will be somewhere abroad," she says.

Somewhere that Mariam might only dream of from her dim room lit by an uncommonly bright smile.

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