Things To Do In Lakeland South

The Northwest is home to a thriving art glass movement, launched largely by Dale Chihuly, a glass artist known for his colorful and large-scale sculptures, and for co-founding the Pilchuck School for glassblowing outside Seattle. Visitors who possess even a passing interest in glass art owe themselves a visit to the area’s several museums and galleries dedicated to the form, where Chihuly’s work stands tall alongside a new generation of glass blowers. The Museum of Glass, 30 minutes south in Tacoma, is a great place to start the journey. Kids and adults alike flock first to the Hot Shop – “hot shop” is glass-speak for a studio with kilns for glass – which hosts an ever-changing roster of artists. Along with their assistants, these skilled workers blow glass before an audience, while a museum guide narrates the process and takes questions from the crowd. The general takeaway: Shaping molten glass into usable or beautiful forms is dangerous, physically demanding and time-consuming, but ultimately a fun team effort that produces exquisite results. Outside the hot shop, revolving gallery exhibits display work from around the globe, and the well-stocked gift shop markets everyday glasswares and topical books on the subject. Next up is Chihuly Garden and Glass, opened on a large patch of land in Seattle, directly west of The Space Needle. The museum and gardens showcase Chihuly’s work, organized thematically in all its varied forms. There are sea shapes, Native American displays and a room whose central focus is a clear ceiling topped with dozens and dozens of overturned vases in bright colors. Eventually, the gallery leads guests outdoors to a glasshouse of floral shapes and a garden walk where spiky flora and fauna in splashy colors protrude from or blend in with plant life. Want to try your hand at the art yourself? Seattle Glassblowing Studio offers guidance for one-time experiences as well as multi-week classes from its downtown hot shop. Or perhaps you want to see it up close and personal, and then go home with a gift? Try Glasshouse Studio or Avalon Glassworks in West Seattle, both of which combine gallery shopping with onsite glassblowing demonstrations. Glassy Baby, a boutique glass blower that makes dozens of colors of decorative glass candleholders also operates a hot shop and store in Seattle’s Madrona neighborhood. Shoppers can feel good about their purchases, since the company gives 10% of the revenue from glass product sales to philanthropic organizations that focus on cancer and other healthcare issues.

As if conjugating verbs wasn’t daunting enough, language lessons often come with a hefty price tag. But did you know there are a number of resources in Seattle where you can learn a new language for free? Below, we broke down a few to help you choose the one that best suits your experience level and learning style. If You’re Just Starting: The Library Flipping through language books may evoke flashbacks to freshman French class, but that’s not your only option at the library. Both the Seattle Public Library and the King County Library System give cardholders free access to online learning system Mango, which offers lessons in 63 languages, including French, Spanish, Mandarin, Yiddish, and Urdu (there’s even a surprisingly robust lesson in Pirate). The lessons are interactive and self-paced, and they focus on learning through conversations and context, rather than dry grammar instruction. To use, simply log in through the library website using your card, then create a personal Mango account to track your progress through each course. For kids, the Seattle Public Library offers access to Muzzy, an online children’s program that offers instruction in 10 languages. The King County Library System’s kids’ program, meanwhile, is Little Pim. It offers a similar range of language options and, like Muzzy, focuses lessons around animated videos and vocabulary. Both library networks also host live world-language storytimes for little ones in Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese, Hindu, and Russian, among others. Check out each library’s events page for schedules. If You’re Ready to Perfect Your Accent: Language Groups Online programs are great for establishing a foundation, but the best way to hone your developing language skills is through real conversation. Luckily, there are several meet-ups and conversation circles around Seattle where you can interact in your language of choice. Practicing French speakers—and foodies—of any level will enjoy the French Conversation Table at Café Presse (1117 12th Ave.). Held every other Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., the event is facilitated by Yasmina Mobarek, a native French speaker who has taught at the University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University. The conversation is free and happens to coincide with Café Presse’s Vin Expresse—a “Paris-style” happy hour. So you can enjoy some pork confit and well-priced wine with your French chitchat. Chalk it up to research. Meanwhile, French, German, and Spanish speakers will find a dedicated group of conversationalists at Third Place Commons (17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park). According to director Constance Perenyi, the pace of these groups makes them best for more practiced, intermediate-level speakers, but they are very welcoming to newcomers. The German group generally meets on Monday evenings, French on Tuesdays, and Spanish on Thursdays, but it’s best to check the Third Place Books calendar as they do not always meet every week. Internet stalwart Meetup also lists a variety of active language groups in Seattle. The large Seattle Spanish Society hosts a fun, loose weekly Sunday-night meet-up at Barca (1510 11th Ave.) in Capitol Hill. The evening is open to advanced Spanish speakers and beginners alike. You can also find active Japanese, Italian, German, and Korean groups on the website. A few of the groups ask for a small annual membership contribution ($5–$15), but this might be voluntary or something you can wait to pay after you’ve gotten a feel for the group and made certain it’s a good fit. If You Just Want to Order Without Fear: Language Classes for Travelers If you’re thinking of learning a language for an upcoming trip to Europe, Rick Steves’ Travel Center (130 4th Ave. N, Edmonds) regularly schedules free 90-minute language classes along with its general travel curriculum. The lessons won’t make you fluent, but they can help you pick up a few key phrases in Czech, German, Swedish, Turkish, or Spanish so you can confidently order off a menu or ask for directions. Italian instructor Graz Palumbo-Perry is especially popular for her fun and engaging style; her two-part Beginning Italian for Travelers often fills up fast, so be sure to register early.

The Seattle area is certainly not unique in being a great home for the fiber arts (knitting, crochet, sewing, and more), but there are elements to the city that make it especially suited to these hobbies. As a tech centric city, many Seattleites spend their workdays in front of a computer, and a hands-on activity that produces an actual physical result can be a welcome tonic to too much screen time. Learning to make one’s own clothes and gifts is also a natural extension of the urban homesteading activities like canning, cheese-making and edible gardening that are also popular in Seattle. And of course, drippy Seattle weather certainly encourages one to find engaging and cozy indoor activities. (Find more things to do in Seattle, rain or shine) For those who have never knit, crocheted or sewn before, or need a refresher on long-forgotten skills, there are many options for getting started on a successful path to a new (and possibly addictive) hobby. Knitting, Crochet, Felting, Cross Stich Nearly every yarn store in Seattle offers classes, so checking a nearby neighborhood shop will probably be a safe bet for at least beginner classes. Once up to speed on basics, some shops offer more specialized classes to help target particular projects or techniques. The Weaving Works in North Seattle is one such shop that offers the basics, but also goes deeper into knitting and crochet skills with classes in fixing mistakes, yarn substitutions, binding off techniques, reading crochet charts and Tunisian crochet (a method that uses elements of both knitting and crochet).   Weaving Works and another North Seattle shop - The Fiber Gallery - also offer classes in spinning, needle felting, and weaving for those interested in a wider array of fiber hobbies. For learning opportunities beyond the yarn store, Makers’ Mercantile in Kent, Pacific Fabric and Crafts and even the North Seattle Community College all offer knitting and other fiber arts classes.  The Seattle Parks Department schedules classes as well, primarily for children, teens and those over 50 years. For a fun half- or full-day Puget Sound yarn excursion, there’s Churchmouse Yarns and Teas a ferry ride away on Bainbridge Island and Tolt Yarn and Wool in the pretty farming community of Carnation. Churchmouse offers some great specialized topics like Victorian cross stitch, Continental method knitting and a Feldenkrais-inspired class on “Healthy Handiwork Habits” to help hobbyists avoid the possible pain of repetitive motions. Tolt Yarn and Wool offers locally-made yarns, including Sleepy Hollow Fiber Farms, a small local producer that labels each skein with the name of the sheep the wool came from. Hobby groups are not true classes, but a welcoming group of fellow knitters, crocheters, or weavers can help keep a beginner encouraged when encountering challenges with new projects. And, usually, they’re free! Check the neighborhood shop schedule and most likely they offer group knitting or other craft circles that are open to the public. The Bellevue Parks Department organizes a knitting circle that works together to knit items for local hospitals and Eastside Baby Corner. It’s free to attend and they provide the patterns and material. The first Sunday of the month is also a good time for fiber art groups with a Scandinavian angle. Most months, the Nordic Heritage Museum offers a Nordic knitting circle, and the Swedish Club has a weaving group. They are both free and open to the public. For periodic special events throughout the year, keep an eye out for the Madrona Fiber Arts fest, Vogue Knitting Live, the Knit Fit marketplace, and the LYS (Local Yarn Shop) Tour. And for those who get truly serious about it, there’s even CraftCruises, which has scheduled Alaskan cruises focused on knitting, crochet, handspinning, needlework and more, departing right here from Seattle or north in Vancouver! Sewing and Quilting There are several options for sewing classes around Seattle. Drygoods Design is currently a popular spot for its stylish fabric selection and the “make*do*mend” studio that offers classes in basic sewing and quilting. They also offer classes focused on particularly useful patterns like the Washi dress or an “everyday” skirt. Pacific Fabrics and Crafts, Makers’ Mercantile, and the North Seattle Community College, mentioned above as venues for knitting and crochet classes, also offer sewing classes. The South Seattle Community College location does as well (although their selection is more limited than North Seattle). University of Washington’s continuing education department (aka the Experimental College), Stitches, and Quality Sewing and Vacuum are a few other spots with solid schedules of sewing instruction. For those on a budget, check out Sew Up Seattle. This is a free community group that gets together monthly on the 4th Saturday from 11am to 1pm at the Denny Park Lutheran Church. They have sewing machines, tools, and scraps, and beginners are welcome to come to learn and practice for free. The Lynnwood Library periodically schedules a “Make Friends with Your Serger” class. Frequency can be erratic, but for those struggling with the serger, occasionally checking the Sno-Isle Library system’s event calendar might yield a free learning opportunity.