Click on image for link to a very thoughtful podcast produced by the Maiwa School of Textiles featuring textile artist, writer, dyer, and more, Tim McLaughlin.
 Click on the above image for brief footage of now-submerged Mexian caves that hold signs of red pigment extraction as early as 12,000 years ago. You can read the complete Science News article here.
A message From Kelly Grotzinger, Co-President
This is not a note about staying safe and out of range of the pandemic, but about behavioral affect revealed during self-isolation--relating to weaving, of course. What clothes are you wearing day to day now that you do not go 'away' or 'out' except to hike around the yard or in the neighborhood or to the grocery store? Well....I have replaced jeans with yoga pants so that my posterior is not chaffed from so much time on a weaving bench. I have replaced hard sided shoes with fat rag wool socks, the better to manipulate treadles. So that my black wool work suit jackets do not gather dust in my closet and so that I might stay warmer in my studio, I pair them with the yoga pants, the rag wool socks, and some sort of t-shirt. I may throw a hand-woven scarf/shawl around too. Now, lest this combination not be stylish enough for you, know that I add a range of southwest style earrings and bracelets. Thank heavens that I don't need to add a mask to this 'look' in order to weave! So, although we have not had Guild time to do show and share of our hand woven projects, I wanted you to know how I have adopted an alternative personal style to accommodate my fiber focus since self-isolating. You?  Click on image for link to story shared from BBC, shared by Kathy King By Mary Parsons
There is an old African Proverb .... It takes a village to raise a child Well Fellow Toastmasters and guests, I think: It takes a village to Mentor a new Weaver! Let me explain. Several years ago, I was looking for a new hobby to stay active during the long, cold, Pennsylvania winter days. I was talking to my sister in law Karen and she suggested weaving! I was intrigued by her description– creative use of color and texture and pattern. Hands on, active, required planning and a little bit of math both a good fit for an engineer like me. Your weaving could be used in a lot of ways: rugs, scarves, handbags, towels – in fact anyplace fabric is used. Karen was my villager One. She suggested I read a this book called “Learning to Weave” and and to look for weaving workshops in my area.  A 50,000-year-old fragment of cord hints at the cognitive abilities of our ancient hominid cousins. CPGH member Denny Sirotta shares this article from the New York Times. Click on image to read.
 Thanks to Ann Caldwell for forwarding this great article by Taylor Mason, graduate of Shippensburg University. During an internshp at the Renfrew Institute, Ms. Taylor studied the flax culture of Pennsylvania Germans then wrote about and photographed institute faculty member, Beth Skroban, performing flax processing tasks as part of the Institute's program: Growing Clothes: Flax Culture of the Pennsylvania Germans. 
 Point Twill Weaving Workshop
Thursday, March 26, 2020 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The movement and visual intricacy of point twills is infectious! Workshop students will weave a sampler gamp using 5 point twill threadings and numerous tie-up and treadling changes to yield a useful future reference tool with over 100 patterns. Students will need to come to class with a 4 or 8-shaft loom prepared as directed. With permission, students may attend as observers if they do not have access to a portable loom. Barbara Diefenderfer, Weavers’ Roundtable program coordinator, will instruct the workshop and will send detailed preparation instructions upon registration. Students should register online or by submitting the registration form and $25 to the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. A materials fee of $15 will be paid to the instructor at the workshop.  A story about how Singer modernized the sewing machine. Click the image to link to the BBC article.
 For those of us who want to know why some knots are stronger than others, scientists have found a way to help explain it. Click on image for link to this Science News article.
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