Flat felting basics is the next class on Monday September 28. Flat felting is your gateway to scarves, boxes, table runners, wall hangings etc.

Space to Create, located at 14th and 70th NW, is a place for people to come, both kids and adults, to take classes in arts and crafts.  It’s also a space where people can come to work on their own projects using the space, tools and tables. Space to Create offers a place for teachers from the community to find an outlet to teach their skills without opening their own business.

The Fall Fishermen’s Festival will be this Saturday, September 26 from 11 am to 6 pm at the Fishermen’s Terminal in Ballard. It is a family event with a salmon barbecue, fun entertainment and it is free! Some of the activities for the day include:
* Fun for kids with miniature boat building, face painting, clowns, fish art and more
* Wild salmon fillet challenge   * Outdoor salmon barbecue  * Seafood Association exhibits
* Oyster “Shuck ‘n Shoot”   * Sea Explorer Scouts ships
* Barbecue competition    * Survival suit team races

On Sunday afternoon, about 200 kids poured into the new gym located at 5313 Shilshole Avenue NW just South of the busy intersection of Market and 24th Street. The 2 hour open house–including open gym time, hamburgers and hotdogs–couldn’t have been more welcome or better attended. Parents lined up to sign their kids up for classes–recession be damned! At least they don’t have to drive to Lake City from Ballard for evening gymnastics classes!

The new gym has very high ceilings and is open and spacious. And it doesn’t smell like the old gyms, at least not yet! It has two trampolines, a tumble track and an air track. Of course there’s the foam pit for end of class fun. The parent’s bleachers are just as small as the old place, so be prepared to stand. If you go, watch the turn from Shilshole Ave. It’s hard to see at first.

For more information about classes see SGA’s website: www.seattlegymnastics.com

What do you do with an odd little nook 6 ft by 6 at the corner of your clothing store? Blackbird owner Nicole Miller decided to turn it into a candy store at the corner of 22nd and the Bergen Place courtyard—and it is getting a lot of looks from passers by.

The shoppe opened three weeks ago and just this week added jonboy caramels—gourmet caramels by a local man who is not much more than a boy himself. Blackbird employee Andy Ziskis says Jon makes the caramels at the Whole Foods kitchen in small handmade batches. At Blackbird, I tried a sample of both the salt caramel—quite tantalizing on the tongue—and the molasses ginger—just like a pecan pie. The flavors were amazing and I’m not even a big fan of caramel.

Although the store is still finding itself—you’ll find retro and specialty candies such as Pop Rocks and RJ’s New Zealand licorice, jars of bright colored candies sold for $0.69 per ounce, and Empire Ice Cream made from products from the Ballard Farmer’s Market—I hope this candy shop finds its sweet spot by carrying more small boutique confections like jonboy’s.

So many dishes looked good and I wanted to try more than our appetites and budgets could afford—so I never got to their falafel sandwich—I hear they are going to create a walk up window so you can get a sandwich in hand around the back.

I did order their Pommes Aligot—Yukon Gold potatoes whipped with Cantal, a French cheese—which was about the most heavenly thing I’ve had this summer. Their salad greens were crisp and tasty and I couldn’t help but notice that they said they were grown French style right on the rooftop of the building—now that is local! Although I couldn’t go up myself due to liability issues, my waiter, Dave Bender, obliged my curiosity and provided me with a panorama of photos of the rooftop gardens.

Maybe due to the atmosphere or the excellent tequila and good company, the conversation was lively too. Jeanine observed that open water swims at Green Lake are popular among the middle aged female set (Danskin approaches) and Renee (ReneeTheDatingCoach.com) enlightened us about her new venture: the Dating Academy—which seeks to educate the finer points of dating and includes group field trips to nightlife in Ballard and Columbia City with active on site coaching.