Mendocino Yarn Shop — Local services in Fort Bragg

The shop itself is cute and offers a good selection. I signed up for a Brioche class 1 month ahead of time. I was told it was not for beginners , but not that it was for advanced knitters. Having just completed a sweater that colleques noted to be quite complicated I would have rated myself as intermediate. I went ahead a purchased the instructor recommended yarn and had needles. No other instructions or lists for supplies were given. The class started nearly 20 minutes late because no one knew we all needed additional practice yarn and an additional set of needles .Which has always been supplied in other classes I have taken. There were only 3 of us in the class so it should have been quite manageable. One person was repeating the class. The other seemed aquainted with the instructor and quite an advanced knitter.The pattern was complicated and required some intense one on one instruction to at least get started . The instructor was one of the worst I have ever encountered. Besides being disorganized not having her materials prepared she completely lack any sense of teaching techniques. She was very condescending and authoritarian in her approach. When unable to effectively explain something she grabbed the knitting out of you hands and would complete it herself. When I said: "let me try to try and get corrected" she remained impatient and unrelenting. Due to her lack of teaching skills the class lasted longer than expected so she stated she would be available for consultation in the store on thursday and tasked us with completion of 3 1/2 in of project. A busy thursday rolled around and as the day wore on I realized I might not make it so i called to explain and see if we could arrange another time before class on monday which I would gladly compensate her for. She stated she was only available thursday and her response was that I should just drop the class without a refund and that she already gave us the hrs she was paid for. This is completely unacceptable and nothing I have ever experienced in any class I have ever taken ( and there were many!) Obviously being an expert knitter does NOT make you a teacher and if you want to just knit with your friends you should limit it to a club where you accept membership on not call it a class!!! Because what you presented does...

Perhaps I live in my own ‘little’ world but, it was a bit strained when I attempted to have a friendly chat. I traveled specifically to Mendocino for my birthday and then to this yarn shop because I was told the shop was a slice of heaven. I do not look like your typical knitter and if I didn’t know better I could swear there was a gasp when I entered the shop. The sales person wasn’t rude but there was much room to be had in the welcoming department. I purchased some items to support local business but wondered, on my way back to Heritage House, should I have just kept my money for my favorite East Bay Yarn...

Charming little yarn shop! A bit hard to find, but lovely once you get there. The shop dog slept through most of my visit and got some awake scratchies just before I left with three skeins of beautiful locally spun yarn (wool blends). Lots of sock weight yarns. A good selection of buttons and notions. And several baskets of sale yarns. Two of the photos are of a knitted dog poop bag carrier the owner made - I love it and need to make a crochet version...