The Towel Exchange

A few years ago I came across a website that had a towel exchange on it. The exchange sounded like a lot of fun, but I didn't feel like I was good enough at weaving to participate in it. But this year when I got the bigger loom I finally felt like I could do this! Luckily it was up and running again. Here is their website. There are a lot of beautiful towels posted from the years past that I find inspiring.

This is the set of towels I made. I used a summer/winter pattern with an orange and white warp:



Here are the patterns, if you're interested:






This is my most favorite towel. Since I keep 1 towel from each set that I weave, I decided to keep this one, although the choice was definitely hard!


Here is a picture of all the towels that were in the exchange. Mine are in the upper left corner!




And here are the beautiful towels In received in the mail. They are so nice! Some were made on 4-shaft looms so I can make duplicates. Others were made on 8-shaft looms, so I can have something to look forward to! And a few were made on 16-shaft looms... WOW! I can't even imagine that one...


Here's a closer look at all 6 of them:

1. 4-shaft pattern called "Friendship Towel in Huckaback" from Paula in Shasta Lake, CA:


2. A 16-shaft pattern from handweaving.net from Laurie in Roseville, MN:


3. A 16-shaft pattern from Amy L. in Minot, ND:


4. 8-shaft pattern called "Dogwood Towels" by Joanie in Ukiah, CA:


5. 4-shaft Huckaback pattern from Laurie in West Glenville, NY:

6. 4-shaft M&O's pattern by Laurie in South Dartmouth, MA:


These towels are so pretty that I don't even want to use them as towels! I feel so inspired looking at the quality work and choices of colors and types of yarns. I am also so excited to have some 8-shaft and 16-shaft patterns and towels!! Someday I hope to at least have an 8-shaft loom!