Frogging the Koigu, and Crafts Store rant

Went by The Mannings on Friday en route to my costume workshop, and bought more yarn (of course!), including some Koigu Premium Merino in a different color for the Flower Basket Shawl, and got a good look at the Koigu shoulder shawl in the store. It's NOT garter stitch, it's knitted, which shows off the colors a bit better. It's also knitted at a smaller gauge than I've been using, which makes sense -- that shows off the lace border better.

So, frogged the garter stitch shawl and am starting over. Will post pics soon.

Crafts store rant:
I signed up to teach knitting classes at a crafts store (big chain store) that opened up in my town back in December. It's a nice store, great yarn selection, but they really don't have their act together on getting classes scheduled. Back in December, I signed up to teach Beginning Knitting on Tuesday evenings in February, and, I thought, in March.

One Saturday afternoon in mid-Jan., I got a panicked call from the store, asking where I was, because I had a class. Turns out the other woman who is teaching knitting hadn't shown up for her class, so they called me, on the off-chance that it was really my class. Oh, boy... So I went by the store, and tried to make sure everything was all set for my Feb. class. Fine.

So, Thurs, Feb. 3, I went by the store to check again, since my first class was Feb. 8, and found that the OTHER knitting teacher's name was on my class signup sheet, she'd changed the time of the class (not a bad idea, in retrospect) to start an hour earlier, and she'd substituted her own supplies list -- which recommended Fun Fur for a beginning knitting class. WTF? That is NOT a beginner's yarn. It has NO give, and you can't see your stitches. So, I a) confirmed with the classroom coordinator that it WAS my class, and b) got the names/numbers of the students and called them all to make sure they were aware of the changed class time and had the correct yarn (a plain worsted-weight). I also gave the front desk my March signup sheet.

Saturday, as I was driving to western PA for my costume workshop, I got a call from a potential student asking whether she could sign up for the Beginning Knitting class late (she'd missed the first lesson), since she already knew how to cast on and knit. I said sure, but mentioned that I had a class in March. She said I wasn't on the March schedule.

Sure enough, when I went by the store Monday night to check, I found I wasn't on the March schedule, despite the classroom coordinator putting me on her calendar... and there's no room to squeeze me in on a weeknight. (I can't teach on weekends -- too busy.) Nor is there any room in April's schedule. So I'm not teaching again until May and June. This isn't a problem -- I really enjoy teaching, but I don't really need the money or anything. But I AM getting really fed up with the lack of coordination and organization at this store. Grrrr....

And, in the meantime, the only teacher they'll have in March and April is the other teacher, with her Fun Fur recommendation. Ptooie!

Anyway. I'm going to work on my "touch of lace" shawl (the one I just frogged and restarted) and various socks, and try not to get too aggravated.