If I may be so bold as to extend a metaphor: Late winter leans, lonely, on the best of us.

The holidays have bundled up and gone on home, left us with a mess of empty cups, wrapping paper, and that last unwelcome guest — grownup-hood.

Before I’m accused of being lugubrious, let me say there is one way to keep the winter doldrums at bay. This week alone the ArtWorks Center will be hosting five classes, all of which provide that cheery duo, company and activity.

Intro to Knitting, Silk Scarf Dyeing, and an open studio for kiddos all take place during the day on Saturday, Jan. 24.

An Uncork & Create class is slated for this Thursday evening (6 to 8 p.m.), and my own class, Found Poetry for Friday evening (6 to 8 p.m.).

Our new kids’ open studios you may not know of just yet: They run 1 to 3 p.m. on select Saturdays, and will feature everything from craft projects to clay. These open studios are meant to give kids the unstructured time they may not otherwise get in their art classes at school.

Likewise, Found Poetry provides time to engage in play (though this one’s for the grownups). What makes this genre different from the majority of creative writing is that the writer starts with something already written — say a catalog entry or a newspaper article — and crosses out, erases, or otherwise covers certain words until a poem is formed. The results can range from the incomprehensible to the hilarious, but they’re almost always entertaining.

In addition to our numerous classes, we now have online sign-up available. So go ahead: throw on that moo-moo, kick that last guest out of the house, and make a date with us.

Find classes online at austinareaarts.org.