apa's felt carpets from Almaluu, and a loom for yours
I'm Aijan. I'm from Almaluu, the village of apples and felt above Talas, and I study textile at the Ayyubov art college in town. This nest belongs to me and to my grandmother, Burul-apa, who has made shyrdak since she was fourteen. She doesn't use the internet. I show her this page on my phone and she says "the red is wrong". Then she says "good".
A shyrdak is a felt carpet made of cut pieces: you make two felts in two colours, lay them one on the other, cut the pattern through both, swap the pieces, and sew them together with a cord along every seam. So one cutting gives two carpets, each the other one's negative. Nothing is wasted. That's the whole idea, and I still think it's magic.
The pattern maker lets you pick a motif, two colours, the symmetry and the size, and cuts you a carpet on the screen. Save it as a picture. It doesn't leave your phone. If you make a good one, send it to me and I'll show it to apa (she will say the red is wrong).
🧶 pattern maker: the loom, on canvas.
🏠 apa's carpets: six of hers (and my first one), drawn felt by felt.
🐏 motifs: the ram's horn and the others, and what apa says they mean.
🪡 how we make it: from the sheep to the last stitch.
27.10.2026 the maker has a "two felts" button now (swaps the colours in every second square, like a real cutting)
12.09.2026 autumn wool is washed. apa: "this year the sheep were lazy" (less wool)
20.05.2026 apa's runner is on the carpets page
03.03.2025 the nest opens. Kündölük was frozen, a friend said try Uyalar. I'm glad.
Uyalar.net
