Jalba - tehnika pletenja ženskih kapica
"Jalba" - the Technique of Knitting Women's Caps

Summary/Abstract: »Jalba« is both the name for a married woman’s cap, used in some parts of Pokuplje and Croatian Zagorje, and the professional term designating the technique of making light, lacy fabric which is used for caps and decorative insertions on linen shirts and towels. Knitting is done with the help of a wooden frame on which the threads of warp are wound. By their interlacing simultaneously at both ends (without any woof), a lacy fabric, whose pattern consists of rhombus and zigzag lines, is being created. Archaeological findings, ethnographic material and painted representations prove the ancient origin and wide spatial distribution of this technique. It has been documented in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, and in almost all Slavic communities in more recent times. In our country, the »jalba« technique of knitting was preserved until 1950’s in the village of Trg near Ozalj. The wooden frame on which skillful women knitted was called »lucen«. Until the general disappearance of home-made garments, they produced caps in sufficient quantities to cover the needs of several villages. Today, the skill of »jalba« — knitting in Trg is completely forgotten.

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