I admit it. I’m a sucker for a good souvenir. When I was young, I liked t-shirts. (Those were the wash-and-wear days of a very young family.) I’ll admit to a brief flirtation with spoon collecting. But recently, I’ve gone in for fiber—more accurately yarn. I love making a sweater and thinking, “This one came from Charleston, South Carolina!” Or, “I knit this in Jerusalem.”
If, like me, you enjoy a good souvenir, you’ll love the one you can take home from the ANWG 2025 conference in Yakima. As a weaver, is there anything better than a hand-woven towel?
Like so many conferences before us, the Yakima conference will feature a towel exchange. If you choose to bring a towel to conference, and you’ll go home with a lovely hand-woven towel from another conference guest. It’s a souvenir exchange of the very best kind!
We know that weaving takes time, so we want to give you ample prep time for your souvenir planning. Maybe you’ll weave an extra towel during the upcoming gift-giving season and tuck it away for Yakima! Here are the details from towel exchange chair, Ilze Tomsevics:
- You must be present at conference to participate.
- Finished towels (hemmed, washed, dried, and pressed) must be 18”X27” or larger. (Smaller towels will be accepted, but in the small towel category).
- Towels must be made of absorbent yarns.
- We recommend cotton, hemp, linen, or cotton/linen blends.
- Recommended yarn sizes are: 2/3, 5/2, 8/2, 10/2, and 20/2.
- Using the conference colors is always a good idea, but you may use any colors.
- Any weave structure is acceptable: twill, various laces, M&O, overshot, crackle, summer & winter, or plain weave.
- Need more ideas? Color and structure ideas abound on Etsy, Pinterest, Google, and Handwoven Magazine.
We already know that ANWG 2025 will be memorable. But how much fun would it be to think—every time you dry your hands, This towel came from that great conference in Yakima!