Ethical Question

Warning: this post is almost entirely knitting related, for those of you non-knitters skip to the ethical question near the end........

At the shop, I have been hosting a sock of the month club, based on the book Favorite Socks, by Interweve Press. So far we have done Meida's Sock,

the two color re-soleable sock,

and now the footlet is scheduled. We will begin sock #3, the Eastern European footlet, the first week in June.

I have made these socks.

Each month, I show an example of the next month's sock, finished. So that means I am working on July's sock , the Austrian sock right now........before the June class. Are you following all this? Of course you are, you are not a bunch of dummies, like me.........at least I feel like one. The Austrian sock has been ,,,,,,,,,um ...a challenge........ First, I swatched with many different yarns, to get gauge and to show stitch definition. Too soft, too thick, too dark,,,,,,,,the list goes on. I tried lots of yarns, and this sock starts with 72 rows of 9 stitch I-cord........that a lot of I-cord. I did order the recommended yarn from Louet, but is not here yet. You would think I could find something to substitute with since I do have a whole shop to choose from.

Along with the yarns, I had trouble finding needles that worked well for this technique, too blunt, too slippery, too much drag. Finally I settled on Silky Wool and old aluminum needles.

And the chart,,,,,,,,,,oh the chart,,,well, it has no mistakes, but no grid lines every ten stitches like some charts have, Yes, I know, I can put them in myself. A 36 stitch repeat pattern with 24 stitches on each needle confuses it more. and each row is different, no "rest rows". I have not yet begun to memorize the repeat. Here is what I have to show for about 10 hours of work,,,,,,, each round takes me a half an hour. This knitting is best done while locked in a quiet closet with a strong lamp and a strong drink! No TV, radio or ipod. OR family. So here comes the question.

Ethical Question

Can I change horses in midstream? When customers joined the class, the sock patterns had not been announced,,,,just that we would do six different patterns in six months. At the first meeting, I announced the line-up of patterns. Should I change now......put an easier pattern in the line-up? Skip this one? The idea of the club is to learn something with each sock............Am I shirking my duties as instructor? If you non-kniters don't understand the question, I guess you will have to go back and read the entire post. Or not,,,,,,,It's not your problem. I need feedback..........and maybe someone to knit this sock for me!