Friday, April 11, 2008

New Class and some SPACE news!

No, not news from space... that truly would be very, very exciting, but what we're talking about is pretty close! Thanks to our friends and the press we've got some great news about places for Seattle Free School classes.

Thanks to our good friend Anna we're in contact with an agency in the High Point area in West Seattle about using their space and partnering with them for classes. Look for more about this with upcoming classes... this gives us the possibility to do kitchen classes so look for more in depth classes on cheese making, soap making and cooking soon! We'll also have space now for yoga, tai chi, aerobics, you name it!

Secondly after our article in the North Seattle Journal we were contacted by a nonprofit in the downtown area and asked to use their space on Saturdays! How great that people are coming to us to ask us to use their space! Incredible! Anyway, the place is perfect for art classes, woodworking classes or any smaller discussion groups and should help us a ton with having classes that need a good work space.

Third, the kind folks at Allegro Coffee in the U District are letting us have our first knitting class there, upstairs in their wonderful space. We've been using this place for our meetings already and they have been nothing but great! So a big fat kudos to them too for being an excellent example of a true Seattle coffee shop!

And yes, as I just hinted... we have our first Knitting class! YAY! (too many yays? there's reason for a lot really...). There are a limited number of spots in the class so sign up soon... here's the info:

Beginning Knitting- This class will focus on making a hat or a scarf, the choice is yours.
Materials List- Please bring the following with you to class:
Materials for the hat will include size 15 16" long circular knitting needles, 4-5 size 15 double ended knitting
needle (sold as a set), one skein of bulky yarn- at least 60 yards. For the scarf you'll need one skein of yarn-
at least 90-100 yards, and corresponding straight knitting needles (most yarn labels have a suggested needle
size.) Pick plain yarn- no baubbles or fur- this will make it difficult to see your stitches.
Facilitator - Andrea Strong
Schedule- Saturday, May 10th at 1:30pm at Allegro Coffee House in the University District- UPSTAIRS!
Sign Up- This class has a limited number of spaces. Sign up here.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Safety Forum tonight!

Late notice but there is a free safety forum tonight...

In light of the recent assaults on Asian women on Beacon Hill and South Seattle, the Chinese Information and Services Center is sponsoring a safety forum tomorrow (Thursday, April 10) at 6:30 pm at their office in the International District (611 S. Lane Street). Chinese and Vietnamese interpreters will be there. Free admission.

And if you're not going to that then come join us at Allegro Coffee in the University District for our organizers meeting. Anyone and everyone welcome.

More Classes Posted!

Well being that it's April now it was time to schedule classes at the library for July and so we have. We'll be having classes in Keeping Bees in the City, Keeping Chickens in the City and Soap Making (of course) in July plus a number of other classes that should be posted next week. There are also canning classes in both August and September posted. How strange to plan your life that far in advance eh?!

The note about more classes coming reminds me to remind you all that there's an organizers meeting tomorrow night at Allegro Coffee in the U district. It will be at 7pm and we'll meet upstairs. Anyone and everyone is welcome so feel free to show up! I want to give extra kudos to Allegro for not only being great about having our meetings there but also being open to us having smaller classes there... again, these should be posted next week! YAY!

There's also some potentially great news about space use though I'm not saying any more lest I jinx it (please knock on wood now!). One way or the other the press we've been getting is super helpful with getting the word out to people about what we're doing and helping us find places for classes. So thanks to all you journalists that have helped us! We really do appreciate it more then we could ever tell you!

Finally, I just want to give big fat kudos to the Seattle Public Library for letting us have classes in their spaces including ones that I might be scared about having in places with carpet (soap making... cheese making... and yes, of course we'll have every surface covered so as not to cause problems). These folks have been absolutely wonderful about us using their space and it's been a great pleasure working with them.

As a final note, currently the classes held at the Seattle Public Library are not sponsored by the library... but who knows what we'll work out in the future!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Yet more press!

YAY, so Seattle Free School is in the press yet again! Check out the Journal Newspaper article at a newsstand near you or read it here: Journal Newspaper Article

As a reminder there is an organizers meeting coming up soon. Thursday April 10th, 7pm, upstairs at Allegro Coffee House in Seattle Washington. Info about the location can be found here: Allegro Coffee As always, anyone and everyone is welcome at this meeting. If you're interested in helping out, teaching a class or just want to know more about Seattle Free School in general then please show up!