Things to Do in San Jose

Knitting as a hobby is older than agriculture and twice as delicious. Bobbin's Nest offers all the supplies a knitter's tightly purled heart could possibly desire, as well as sewing, crochet, and embroidery supplies for crafting across the craft board. Skeins of yarn run on average between $10 and $15, whereas a yard of fabric generally goes for $8 to $10. If you need some help creating an inverted afghan or hangin' scarf, craft books are available in spades, running in cost from $14.95 to $21.95. This nest of bobbins contains a large arsenal of boutique-dyed yarn, modern fabrics, independent patterns, unusual embroidery supplies, craft books, and creative classes.

Drop into hip-hop (Tuesday, 8–9 p.m.) to energize your stale disco moves; materialize in tap (Wednesday, 7–8 p.m.) to invigorate your toes with rhythm; dance and shake off the calories, Latin-style, with Zumba (Thursday, 8–9 p.m.); or open up a can of grace with ballet (Saturday, 12–1 p.m.). With five gleaming studios and a full squad of certified dance instructors breaking the beat together under a single roof, this much dance has not been gathered in one place since the release of YouTube as a DVD box set. The drop-in classes are designed to accommodate dancers of all skill and experience levels. The small class size ensures the type of personal attention formerly only children longed for upon the arrival of a newborn baby brother. Sign up with a few friends to gain new moves and lose a few pounds in the process.

Inside, Fire Works Ceramics’ studio looks more like a cozy cottage than a storefront, its shelves of blank ceramics and hardwood tables awash in sunlight as they wait to be painted at handsome kitchen tables. Visiting artists take their pick of blank mugs, dishes, vases, and figurines, all poured in-house rather than sourced from archaeologists’ garage sales. After decking out their chosen piece in as many colors as they like, guests surrender them to staff to receive a coating of glaze and a trip into the kiln. In addition to walk-in sessions, the studio can also host birthdays, bridal showers, and butterfingers’ support groups.

A prismatic array of glaze bottles and sparkling glass pieces form kaleidoscopic patterns for guests to splash across create-your-own pottery and fused-glass masterpieces. Visitors select from stencils, stamps, and samples or select still frames from their dreams to decorate ceramic mugs, figurines, and fused-glass dishes. Staff members set up and clean workspaces, as well as package kits for home pottery-painting parties. This means artists can focus solely on siphoning their imagination into their project. The studio regularly hosts parties and meetings, to which guests are welcome to bring snacks, wine, or milk shakes made of ground-up poems.

In 1976, educator, musician, and kinesiologist Robin Wes longed for a children's gym that prioritized personal growth over competition. Unveiled at a time when physical-education classes pushed students to focus almost exclusively on winning, Robin's program was swiftly adopted and is now used in more than 300 Little Gyms worldwide. Robin still pens original music to accompany lessons, which engage whippersnappers aged 4 months to 12 years with gymnastics, dance, karate, and parent and child activities.

Each of The Little Gym's classes introduces simple movements that sharpen motor skills and set brains whirring, allowing kids to progress at their own pace until they can finally build a computer out of macaroni and glitter. Staff members strive to build a base for lifelong social skills and self-assurance with each exercise, including activities rooted purely in fun, such as summer camps or birthday parties, which helped The Little Gym to earn title of #1 Birthday Chain in Parents Magazine.

Founder Dori Duncan and a talented team of glamour aficionados teach classes for adults and children at Camp Fashionista. Weekend workshops include an Introduction to Sewing class for adults and children ages 8 and older that builds sewing-machine aptitude as students use a zipper and cotton fabric brought from home to construct a pouch they can then fill with notes, candies, or counterfeit Dutch guilders. The Little Fashionistas class guides students ages 6 and older on a course toward whipstitches, precision-snipped pattern pieces, and their very own hand-sewn apple pincushions. With cotton fabric in hand, students may create shoulder-slung book pouches during a Messenger Bag course, or they can add dazzle and street cred to old foot tubes during Bling Your Socks.