Bergdala Spinnhus

The making of a "stone wall"

I live in Småland, in the south of Sweden.
One characteristic of Småland is the stone wall - they are everywhere, enclosing fields and pastures. They can also be found in the forests - then they indicate that this forest is planted an the site of an old farm.

I thought it should be possible to weave shawls with inspiration from this the most common local thing.
What are the characteristics of a stone wall?
It is not as grey as one often think - there is usually moss growing on it. The stones are of many different sizes, and it is never smooth. (See many more stone walls here).
So - I chose a "bumpy" weaving technique, that relies on the fact that wool will shrink, but cotton will not. (See more bumpy shawls here).

Many different grey and moss green cotton and linen yarns went into the warp.
For the shrinking stripes I found a dark green woollen yarn.
This is the warp beam.

One of the shawls on the loom - grey-green and all flat.
Will it look like its inspiration?

After weaving the fringes have to be made.
First I make knots with about 6 warp ends in each.

Then they are twisted together two-and-two.

Why do the fringes have to be twisted?
There are a couple of reasons: the cotton threads are so thin that they would create a hopeless tangle if they were left loose (compare 300 single threads to 25-30 twisted fringes); also the thin threads would wear faster.
Also, the idea is that the wool yarn will shrink - if those yarns were left uncontrolled they would create a felted mess in the washing machine...

Four different shawls ready for finishing in the washing machine.

Five shawls on a stone wall.