Just looked into the pdd-nos forum and found this thread, so sorry for bumping it and making a long post. But this is something I can relate to. A lot.
It's funny, most of what you guys have said is actually the exact opposite of what I experience. I'll write about being touched by another person, and then about other textures I like in a bit.
While I understand societally that it's not normal or respectable to go up to someone and touch them, or for them to do as such to me, it's something I've never been overly opposed to. While there are obviously times I don't want to be touched or will actively try to prevent being touched, there are many times when I actually look forward to it to some extent. The thought of giving a hug or having someone hug me is always a journey into the unknown for me, one which I often look forward to. Kissing is quite the opposite, however, and that is one of the grossest forms of contact that I can imagine myself putting up with. It's gotten so bad that I almost refuse them even from family. But hugging or any other form of touch that I've allowed myself to experience this far is always exciting for me.
One particular afternoon is still vivid in my mind because of cool tactile sensations. In college a girl offered to help me get from one class to another, and that required me to move a fair way across campus. Because i'm blind, getting lost is not hard to do, even though I had a reasonable mental map of the part of campus I was on. The route I had to take was one I wasn't overly confident in, and I was kinda tired. I would've ordinarily tried to do it myself but I decided to let her help me today.
Now there is a so-called proper method to help a blind person, at least a method I was taught called sighted guide, where you gently hold the person's elbow and walk next to them, letting them stay a comfortable step or two ahead of you so you can follow them. Sometimes when doing sighted guide with a stranger, I use the texture and size of their arm/elbow to try and figure out what their body shape is like. I'm not awkwardly groping or feeling, and unless you knew me you wouldn't even know I was doing it because it's all internal thoughts.
Of course many sighted people know nothing about sighted guide methodology unless they've seen it someplace, and because I am a little too eager for touch and too nervous to place extra burden on strangers, I often don't bring up sighted guide and just let them guide me however they choose to. Most people do catch onto holding the elbow pretty quickly when I sort of imply that's how I should do it, but my attempts to reach for this girl's elbow failed, and she caught my hand and decided to hold that instead. Had I been on edge or less reserved that day, I surely would've pulled away from her and directed her on sighted guide, but this time was different. I let her hold my hand for the entire 5 or so minute walk to my class. Simply because I liked how her hand felt.
This is not the first time this has happened in some form or another. I've always liked hand touch. When I was 10 I became really fascinated about how people's hands felt and other things, but I will save that for another time. Suffice it to say the fascination is stil there, as innocent but strong as ever, and handholding is way more powerful to me than it should be. The girl helping me to class was on the top end of the awesome end of my scale.. Holding back my fascination and wanting to explore her hand fully was more of a challenge than I care to quantify. I didn't want to do the equivalent of staring at a point of interest... no this hand thing would be worse than staring... I was not about to do that. And while I can't say holding that back was torture, it certainly wasn't easy either.
I could not bring myself to stop her, despite my embarrassment and humiliation. If her hands weren't so cool to me, I probably would have tried to exercise boundaries, as any normal person probably would without hesitation. But instead in this moment, I wanted to convince myself that what anyone thought, or what I would do if I were normal and not weird, was not my concern. So what if people stare at us, or pick on me, or at least are unsure how to approach me now? So what if rumors spread about the blind guy having a girlfriend? I just wouldn't care if rumors started, and whatever response this did get would be dealt with as it came. I wouldn't worry, I would enjoy this because it's my own private thing that nobody seeing it has to know. At the end of our walk she somewhat shyly let go and asked me if I needed anything else. Part of me wanted to think this was as awkward for her as it was for me, but she hardly said a word, and I was too mentally occupied to start a conversation. IIRC she was never in any of my classes and was just a random person willing to help, so I never saw her again. Word never got out though, as I suspected it wouldn't.
Going off of people, there are certain textures I do and do not like. Silky or cool fabrics that either produce audible or tactile sensations are really cool. I also like soft furry things. Animal fur can be really nice. One of my recorders has a windscreen over the microphone that's made of some cool furry material, and I spend more time than I probably realize stimming on that. Really smooth things like metal or glass that isn't dirty or scratched up are really awesome. Certain sounds of a ringing glass or metal bell are also very pleasant to me as well. I have an old analog timer that has a bell which sounds really nice and pleasant to me for some strange reason. I also somewhat enjoy things with ridges on them, ones you can gently run your nails over and that produce a cool tactile and audible sensation, though I can't think of any examples of it on an everyday object at the moment. And the action of certain buttons like mechanical switches on some keyboards, or some thick springs that offer some resistance, are also really cool for me.
I am either very neutral or very against textures that aren't solid. Water is neutral, and sometimes I like it, but it's never something I seek out, and in fact if I'm not expecting to feel something wet it gives me quite a shock, as I'm always wondering if it's water or not. I am really not a fan of things like clay or play dough, as I used to gag on the smell and texture as a kid. I could probably do them now, but I never found a lot of joy in working with them, and it is my understanding that a lot of aspies do, so in a sense I feel like I am missing out. It's just never been something I've been into, though.
I like glue, paint, and slimy stuff even less. Thing is, as a kid I used to like the slimy stuff you could buy in a small jar, or even to make the stuff at home, but I cannot stand the thought of the stuff now. even the sound of slime or blood/gore in cinema or games or what have you is jarring to me, but I actually don't mind that kind of jarring if the substance isn't actually in the room with me. I enjoy involuntarily cringing at sound effects like that for a short time, because I know they are not real objects in front of me. It's only if I hear it live, or if I have to touch it, that I cringe and instinctively fall away from it.
Certain foods also really mess with me. I cannot eat bananas, and I don't like mixing certain foods. I don't like putting sauce on certan foods either, and dip especially is gross to me. Carving the pumpkins at Halloween? Which yeah I know for some of you this will be posted a bit late... but happy Halloween anyway, and I do hope that if your texture stuff flares up at carving pumpkins, that you never have to do it. I almost threw up doing it as a kid before my parents saw just how uncomfortable it made me. And silly string is almost equally disgusting. Save it, it feels like the stuff that comes out of someone's nose!
The rule of thumb with any bad texture is, if I'm expecting something bad, it often just makes it worse. That's probably little more than common sense, but it unfortunately means that it's very difficult for me to get used to or appreciate new textures without fear, and fear often just takes over if it's even the least bit unpleasant. I can only relax if I can relate it to things I find neutral or that I like.
It really frustrates me when people, who don't understand or believe it's not a major issue, will try to force me to feel things that I know I will not like. For example in a chemistry class we decomposed paper into its fibers as an experiment of some kind, and the person helping me wanted to stick my finger in the wet pulpy substance that was the paper fibers mixed with water. I gagged at the thought, especially when I heard the substance referred to as pulp, but he told me to feel it and that I could stop at any time, but I should at least see what it felt like. The professor, in full support of this, also urged me to at least touch it. I don't know if I gagged from the texture or merely from the thought of impending grossness but it was certainly not pleasant. And while I know these people didn't mean to traumatize me in any way, I've not always been so lucky. I've been teased because of my texture sensitivity, both aurally and tactily. People have exchanged food items when I wasn't aware and laughed at my faces and reactions when I got something I didn't like. I try not to let it get to me since it is a form of entertainment for them and isn't meant as a personal attack or anything, but I do make it clear that this is not entertainment for me, that my grins and whatnot are simply reactions to their laughter as someone who normally is a good friend, and are in no way representative of how this particular episode is affecting me. These encounters sometimes make me wonder who truly understands where I'm coming from when it comes to having a lot of sensitivity.
I squeeze or rub it when I feel anxious or like I might dissociate. I also like being "squished" to a certain extent - sometimes I cover myself in blankets and pillows (except when the weather is really warm) like I used to do as a kid (I used to have a huge bean bag chair as a kid that I would add to the pile too 
