The Pinellas Weavers’ Guild (Florida) annually enters the International Spin-In contest in Tasmania, Australia, and two members placed in last summer’s competitions. Lucy Parks won for the United States with a thread of 144.21 meters and Marlys Collier placed in the top ten for hand-propelled spindle thread at 69.15 meters. This group has taken on a special project for Convergence, the national conference organized and sponsored by the Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. When the subject of pincushions for the goodie bags came up during a planning meeting, the guild accepted the challenge of creating all of them. Handspun fabric was donated to be used as a facing and clean washed fleece was donated for the stuffing. To be held in Tampa Bay in June of 2008, “Textures in the Tropics” is the theme of the conference being hosted by the Florida Tropical Weavers Guild. Far from being a “weavers only” event, seminars are offered in spinning, knitting, feltmaking, dyeing and surface design, beads, basketmaking, garments, ethnic and historic textiles, tapestry, creativity, and mixed techniques. Meetings of special interest groups such as Weave A Real Peace (WARP) and Tablet Weavers’ International Studies and Techniques (TWIST) take place as well as tours of the surrounding area’s fiber exhibits. Day passes are available and assistantship grants are awarded to students registered in accredited academic fiber arts programs.