Cables and a New Start

I had my knitting class again yesterday, class 3 of 4. I did manage to learn how to do cables, as evidenced by my swatch above. Knitting cables is pretty cool once you get the hang of it. There was a slight problem with class yesterday though, which I am not happy about. Two of the ladies in my class, a mother and daughter, were more interested yesterday in finding a project to make and yarn for it, than in learning something new. So, the instructor spent an hour with them wandering around the store, helping them shop – during class time. Leaving me and the other girl there to fend for ourselves. At the end of class, our instructor finally came back and said she was going to teach me to bind off. Well, I had to stay after class in order to learn this – which wasn’t right. And I was so frustrated by that time that I don’t think I fully grasped what she was showing me. I got the whole row done, up to the last stitch and then said “ok, now what do I do?”. She pulled it out of my hands and finished it, and cut off the tail. So, I thought ok, nothing to it. I went home last night to bind off my Star Wars scarf (the whole reason I’d wanted to learn to bind off finally), and royally screwed it up. I am so mad and frustrated. Now, I’m going to have to find time to go in this weekend and have someone help me fix it and show me again how to bind off. I definitely did not get my full class time this week, and I’m so annoyed. I will definitely be saying something when I go in on Saturday.

Since I wasn’t able to finish off my scarf and I wasn’t really in the mood to stitch at that point, I decided to start on another knitting project. I am making a simple wrap, more just to practice than anything. I am just gonna make up the pattern as I go. I love the color of the yarn though…but since the yarn is squiggly, it is harder for me to knit with, so it will probably be a good challenge. My instructor also showed us how to start a new ball of yarn yesterday, but in the 3 seconds she used to show us, I didn’t catch it. Ugh – so frustrated.

Sorry that my posts lately have been filled with whiny complaints – it’s just how I’m feeling lately, I guess. I’ll work on getting back my positive attitude.

Walk to Rivendell: Reach area of the Marish with fields, meadows, hedges, gates, and drainage dikes. (Total Miles walked : 57.25)

I am grateful for my ability to learn.

26 thoughts on “Cables and a New Start”

  1. Definitely let the store owner know, if the owner wasn’t the teacher. Either way, I think you should be compensated for the time taken away from your class, and the owner should agree.

  2. Definitely let the store owner know, if the owner wasn’t the teacher. Either way, I think you should be compensated for the time taken away from your class, and the owner should agree.

  3. Anna van Schurman

    Well, even though class isn’t completely satisfying you’re way ahead of me. My coworker keeps telling me “cables aren’t scary.” But they are!

    BTW, when you were a kid, did you have one of those potholder looms? Because you bind off basically the same way (knit two stitches, pull one over the other).

  4. Anna van Schurman

    Well, even though class isn’t completely satisfying you’re way ahead of me. My coworker keeps telling me “cables aren’t scary.” But they are!

    BTW, when you were a kid, did you have one of those potholder looms? Because you bind off basically the same way (knit two stitches, pull one over the other).

  5. Oh that’s too bad Michelle. What is wrong with some people? Don’t they have a single brain cell? Anyway, I’m sorry your class was bad! Cables are fun though! Good luck with your knitting!

    P.S. I learned a lot from videos on the internet. Thankfully we have that choice these days.

  6. Oh that’s too bad Michelle. What is wrong with some people? Don’t they have a single brain cell? Anyway, I’m sorry your class was bad! Cables are fun though! Good luck with your knitting!

    P.S. I learned a lot from videos on the internet. Thankfully we have that choice these days.

  7. Wow! I would be ticked off too! I’m sorry she treated you so badly. Your knitting looks fantastic, though!
    ~Lana~

  8. Wow! I would be ticked off too! I’m sorry she treated you so badly. Your knitting looks fantastic, though!
    ~Lana~

  9. Leslie aka zoeandcooper

    What a bummer about the class. those who want to do extras should be the ones who have to wait.

    Keep up with your knitting…your cable stitch looks wonderful.

  10. Leslie aka zoeandcooper

    What a bummer about the class. those who want to do extras should be the ones who have to wait.

    Keep up with your knitting…your cable stitch looks wonderful.

  11. I agree. You need to complain to the teacher and/or owner. You deserve to get your money’s worth. And ending up frustrated because you didn’t learn what you should have is just wrong. Don’t worry about venting here; sometimes you just have to let that stress out. 🙂

  12. I agree. You need to complain to the teacher and/or owner. You deserve to get your money’s worth. And ending up frustrated because you didn’t learn what you should have is just wrong. Don’t worry about venting here; sometimes you just have to let that stress out. 🙂

  13. I’d let the store owner know that you need her to repeat the lesson since she was busy with the other students. I’ve had knitting lessons like that, and ones where the class is overloaded, and ones where certain students always tie things up and the ones where the students and teacher spent more time gossiping than knitting…so I bought Vogue Knitting, which has wonderful pictures of nearly every possible way of doing something–for instance, about 8 different ways of doing an increase, etc. The illustrations are great (including for binding off). So I’d use that and then use the class as a back-up for the really thorny problems. Unfortunately, the rub with any class given by a yarn store owner is that there is a built-in conflict of interest–it’s more important to them to sell yarn than to help, even when you’ve paid for a class.

  14. I’d let the store owner know that you need her to repeat the lesson since she was busy with the other students. I’ve had knitting lessons like that, and ones where the class is overloaded, and ones where certain students always tie things up and the ones where the students and teacher spent more time gossiping than knitting…so I bought Vogue Knitting, which has wonderful pictures of nearly every possible way of doing something–for instance, about 8 different ways of doing an increase, etc. The illustrations are great (including for binding off). So I’d use that and then use the class as a back-up for the really thorny problems. Unfortunately, the rub with any class given by a yarn store owner is that there is a built-in conflict of interest–it’s more important to them to sell yarn than to help, even when you’ve paid for a class.

  15. Chiming in…. you absolutely need to complain about the instructor’s lack of attention and assistance. Maybe to the instructor herself, but definitely to the owner of the shop.

    The ONLY way I can see it being acceptable for the instructor to abandon class to go help a customer shop is if the instructor is the only employee in the store with a class being held during normal business hours, and that’s another whole can of worms that shouldn’t exist either.

  16. Chiming in…. you absolutely need to complain about the instructor’s lack of attention and assistance. Maybe to the instructor herself, but definitely to the owner of the shop.

    The ONLY way I can see it being acceptable for the instructor to abandon class to go help a customer shop is if the instructor is the only employee in the store with a class being held during normal business hours, and that’s another whole can of worms that shouldn’t exist either.

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