As you can see it has inspired me in more ways than one. Almost one full year later, I’m back at this blogging thing.

Now last year, I actually took some knitting with me to Search Exchange. I had found a pattern for the Om symbol which I had planned to incorporate into a yoga bag. Unfortunately I didn’t have as much scrap yarn as I thought, so that project is in a holding pattern until I frog it with better plans for the wool.

Do you, fellow knitters in the blogosphere, find that it sometimes helps you to focus, stay alert, and listen when you have a mindless knitting project in your hands? I do. I didn’t end up knitting much because I felt like it was being mistaken as disinterest in the presenters. In truth it was exactly the opposite! I decided it would be best if I left the needles at home this year.

The 2010 conference was truly fabulous, all failed knitting projects aside, and Search Exchange 2011 was no exception. If you are involved in SEO, PPC, or Social Media in any way then I highly recommend that you look into coming to Charlotte for this conference next year.

The lineup this year was outstanding.

Day 1
All about PPC and Mobile marketing. Now personally, I have to force myself to pay attention to the paid discussions. I’m not a fan of numbers, never have been and I’ve come to accept that I probably never will be. PPC lacks the social aspect needed to hold my attention. That aside, it’s definitely part of my world and I’m thankful for (and made sure to take advantage of) the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the industry.

Day 2
Day two of Search Exchange was my favorite topic: Social Media. The gang at SearchEx didn’t disappoint. I know what you are thinking. “Wait, social media? At a “Search” conference?” You bet. You can’t hide from it anymore my optimizing friends. Social media and SEO are getting to be like peas and carrots.

At this point with hardly any down time to digest the content, all I can say is WOW. Lately I had started to feel like all the social media discussions were sounding the same.

“Be engaging.”

“Be authentic.”

“It’s about connecting with people.”

All these things still hold true but the speakers at Search Exchange did such a fantastic job of providing honest and insightful information above and beyond the standard social media conference babble. And there was a great amount of insight into all the recent changes and additions to the world of social marketing.

I think my favorite part of Search Exchange was when Ravelry got a shout out from search and social rock star, Joe Hall. Yessir! I’ve been saying for AGES that Facebook needs to take a leaf out of our pages over at Rav and step up with the Agree / Disagree system. Or at the very least, can we please have a “Dislike” option, Facebook?! All these fancy new things and I still can’t tell someone to ‘shut it’ while hiding behind the protection of the herd mentality.

Day 3
Getting down to brass tacks, the third day was all about search engine optimization with some slam-dunk presentations. This included when the Wizard of Moz, Rand Fishkin was climbing over furniture in order to point to things in his slideshow. Awesome – accept my mothering instincts had me ready to run up there and act as his spotter! I was so scared he would fall off those horrible chairs and break his neck.

Then where would we be?
We’d be that “they had so much promise” conference that accidentally killed Rand Fishkin!
FYI – He survived his presentation to walk out of the Charlotte Chamber alive and well with a new found love for sweet tea. No spotter needed. Bless his heart.

I walked away from day three’s presentations with a list a mile long of tips, tricks, tools, and ideas that I can’t wait to start testing out!

I’m still processing and working through my notes and ideas. Once I finish I’ll be able to put together a list of take-aways that I’ll post for you fiber-fanatic SEOs to chew on.

In the mean time I take great pride in knowing that I’m not the only knitting SEO and Social Media marketer out there.

Everyone has at least one holiday where they feel like every year it’s nothing but disappointment, frustration, and headache. A day where despite all the years of trying desperately to get into the holiday spirit, if only to appease friends and family, they have finally given in to their repressed anger and anxiety and just decided to let it out! To proudly admit that, “NO! I HATE [insert holiday] and I will not be manipulated into feeling guilty and forced to participate and put on an appropriate face for the occasion ANY MORE!

Let me see if I can sum up my reasons for disdain of this wretched holiday in an entertaining little dialog. While this is not exactly transposed from an actual conversation, it is based on actual behaviors and statements which have been collected and modified slightly to protect the individuals’ identities.

Friend: “OOOH Halloween is coming up! I love Halloween! What are you going to dress up as?”

Me: “Well I’m not really … “

Friend: “…I bought this kick-ass costume that has feathers all over it plucked directly off of the world’s largest peacock, and the mane is made of Unicorn ass-hair, and the mask goes down around here like this and then curls around over the back that so it looks just like….[blah, blah, blah, blah]… but if it doesn’t get here in time I’ll probably just wear my Naughty Nun costume from like 3 years ago when I was in Charleston and save this new one for next year. I figure nobody here will know I’ve already worn that one once and then next year I won’t have to worry about what i’m going to wear and I can save some money!”

Me: “cool.”

Friend: “So are you going to [name]‘s party? Or [other name]‘s party? Or are you going out with [yet another name] and all of them? I think they were going to [bad bar name] because they are having some huge blowout costume party. The tickets for it are like $10 at the door though, so I think I’m going to [2nd bad bar] because [new name] and her boyfriend and all those guys are going to do a bar crawl and they are starting there.

Me: “I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. I might just see where everyone ends up and decide last minute.”

Friend: Yeah I might do that too, actually. Last year we were all supposed to go to [place x] and then when it was time only like 2 of the 20 million people showed up there, everyone else changed plans on us. We never even made it to this awesome haunted house I heard about and wanted to see. Hey! Maybe we could go this weekend? They do it every year. You interested?

Me: I hate haunted houses, I tend to pee my pants a little bit every time someone screams.

That about sums it up. I mean… nobody can make a decision, there’s all this pressure on the costume you pick, and if you actually manage to come up with something original you end up being annoyed by it within 10 minutes of getting there. Because that demon tail you spent 15 hours papier-mâché-ing and then painting to look like real dragon scales is making it hard to A. Fit in the car, B. Hold your drink because you have to keep picking it up out of people’s way, and C. Sit down in general. And if you go out to the bar, everything is so watered down and prices are so jacked up to pay for all the food coloring that makes them “goulish” that you end up with a green tongue and little else. Finally, you end up chasing other groups of people around all night trying to figure out which place of the 500 locales you’ve been invited to is in fact the most fun and should therefore be honored with your presence for the evening.

But in all this ranting, I’ve left out the 2 parts of Halloween that I can and will always get behind…

Jack-O-Lanterns …

(and candy!)

Picture taken by Nicole Sikora Heschong

So waaaay back in May, I made this terrifying baby blanket for a dear friend’s second born. This was a classic case of color palette and pattern just not complimenting each other well. The colors, green, pink, and brown – actually looked rather good together. It was retro and yet girly. They were picked by the mom-to-be. But the pattern was my “brilliant” idea. I went with stripes, which, in any other color combo would have been cute. What I ended up with was the blanket of shame. I was so embarrassed to be working on it in public, because it honestly looked like something that even your Great Grandmother would hide at the bottom of a chest in the attic!

It was pretty funny, actually, because despite the very 70s effect that the stripes were creating, one minute I would look at the blanket and say – “You know, this is kind of the coolest blanket EVAR!”. Then about an hour later, after I’d been staring at it and my eyes were starting to revolt from the bright pink and green, I’d look at my sister and whine “This is so freaking hideous! I think I’m just gonna go out and buy them a rattle.” But I persevered and in the end it was kind of great. In a 70s explosion kind of way, but kind of great none the less. And it’s machine washable, so it had that going for it at any rate. Really, it’s not so bad, but when staring at it up close for hours on end, it was a little overwhelming.

Paper Crane Cardigan, organic cotton yarn

Then I found myself out in Seattle, with lots of coffee shop time and travel back to Charlotte ahead of me, without a knitting project! EEK! So on our outing to Church Mouse Yarns and Teas I found myself some delicious organic cotton fingering weight yarn that was dirt cheap. I promptly purchased and downloaded the pattern for the Paper Crane Cardigan and set about knitting the smallest stockinette possible for the next 5 months. Yep. I said it, it took me nearly 5 months to finish that little biatch… and I didn’t even put sleeves on it!

But, it is a beautifully soft and comfy and lovely little sleeveless cardigan! I will love it for ever and ever, and if you can muster the patience to knit stockinette for half a year, then I recommend you make it too!

Now to the point of this random and eclectic post. Knitting is one of my favorite pastimes. It relaxes me, it cheers me up, it gives me goals, and it makes me feel useful and unique. But both of these projects tried to kill me, passively, but tried none the less. And I found myself almost dreading picking up the needles. I had to force myself to remember the bigger picture. It took effort and focus to look past the fact that I could barely even SEE the progress on those tiny little size 2 needles, or not to stare directly into the pink light reflecting off the yarn in the blanket. And I found myself employing some of the skills and lessons I’ve been through on my mat in order to do that.
To muddle this post a little more, I remember way back when I was taking karate lessons, my Sensei said that when you focus on the belt that you have or the one you want, you have missed the point of practicing karate entirely. It’s the same on your mat, or at the needles, or even sitting at your desk during the work hours…

It’s not the destination. It’s the journey.

I got really good at using that stupid upholstery needle. Did you know there are special needles for upholstery? They are curved, and SUPER sharp. I should know, I only stabbed myself about 1.6 billion times on the first seam. GAH. It was kind of awesome, really. Here’s me, Maggie, the girl who can’t walk in a straight line when she’s more sober than the Pope himself! Walls catch me offguard regularly! And I’m wielding a curved inch and a half long sewing needle and straight pins for hours on end? There’s a disaster waiting to happen.

…oh my Allah… the straight pins!

I think all of this would be better explained if I were to share with you some images as I tell my tale.

So, the first thing I did was the top/back seam. Figuring that it needed to be straight and that the fabric could be stretched and pushed and pulled as needed underneath the cushion to even it out at the bottoms much easier than fudging the part everyone would see. Now keep in mind that these are camel back couches, so they aren’t straight. They have a hump in the middle (teehee). That means that a straight piece of fabric wouldn’t work. So I had to get creative with my pleating. But it turned out just dandy!

Next was the easy part. I took the long piece hanging down over the back, pulled it down as tight as I possibly could, and stapled it to the frame on the underside of the couch. Yup. I stapled it. And it was awesome. It was my favorite part of the whole project. If I could figure out a way to get a staple gun to work on the fabric, i would do it in a heartbeat. Next is the second best part – where I duct tape over top of the staples. Awesome.

From there I worked on the front of the back piece. You know, that part you lean against. Well, here’s where it gets really ghetto. See, I thought I was terrified I would be short on fabric. So I didn’t worry about cutting this piece a little short on the front side. I mean, that inch of space is gonna be covered up by either the cushion or your butt, so really does it matter if there is a little uncovered space? NOPE! So I did my best to sew the new fabric down along the inside and then to make it good and strong… you guessed it! More duct tape!

Then it was the sides. They were pretty easy. I sewed the seam up the back corners first and then pulled the fabric tight around the front and stapled it to the frame on the front. This part will be covered up in a future step. However, at the time it looked pretty fugly.

The arms proved to be the trickiest part. They are curly and freaking hard to do when you’re using as little fabric as possible. Let-me-just-tell-you! But I managed, through (I believe) an expert usage of pleats and hidden seams and of course, staples… I got the arms looking just fine in deed! Check these out! by the time I finished the first arm my fingers were so sore and raw from being stabbed and poked and pushed against the needle so much. My fingers were so sore that typing on my super sexy and streamlined low-profile keyboard was painful.

Finally, it was the front panels. These were really easy, just TONS of sewing. Remember when I told you I was using a large amount of straight pins? Well it was one of those early pre-work mornings when I pinned the front panel on the first arm. But I didn’t realize just how dangerous this step was going to be, and I ended up having to leave my couch looking like a porcupine for the day! I was so scared for my cats life. Anyone who owns a cat knows that they have this thing where they rub up against anything and everything. Couches included. And my cat loves to jump onto and rest on the arms of the couches, to boot! So… you can imagine my concern and my inner dialogue as I got ready to leave. “If I put a blanket over the arm, she won’t see the pins and they can still poke her so is she more likely to hurt herself? But then, I don’t know just how dumb my cat is, so is she even going to see them if I don’t cover them up? And if I don’t cover them and she doesn’t see them, then there is not hope of them being more blunt from the padding the blanket would give them…” And so forth.

So I got all this done and the couch looks awesome. And then it was time to do the cushion. Um. That thing is like 2 feet long, and has to be covered on all 6 sides! And have a zipper?! WHAT?!!!!!! So I lost my steam. I was determined to find a sewing machine to finish the stupid thing. And that my friends, is where Part 3 will pick up.

So last week I was planning with my new friends about how we were going to spend all day Saturday lying around by the pool with margaritas and reading and working on our cancer lines. What a plan it was! And what a day we were going to have! Yoga in the AM to work on that bikini body, then straight to the pool to relax and show it off!

Well the yoga part happened, and it was an awesome class! But as I left yoga the sky started getting darker and cloudier. I realized as I walked to my car that it wasn’t all that terribly warm out, either. The sun was still struggling to show itself though and I figured the temperature wasn’t anything a few drinks couldn’t handle for me! So I drove home, texted my friends (not at the same time!) suited up, grabbed my book, poured myself a drink and headed to the pool. We sat there for about 10 minutes before we gave up. The sun just wasn’t going to win this time.

So we went up to my balcony to at least be outside while we finished our drinks. It was still a fun time. But while sitting there sipping my delicious beverage and chatting I got the best idea in the world. Clearly what I should do with my now empty Saturday afternoon was… reupholster my couches?

…

WHAT?!

…

Exactly. I’m not really sure what the heck got into me.

You see when I moved out into the big wide world to start my adult life my adoring parents gave me these love seats that they didn’t have room for anymore.

This love seat has no idea what's about to happen to it! (iPhone pic, sorry)

There are two of them, matching, of course. They were purchased in about 1987 and I believe may have been reupholstered at one point during my childhood, but don’t quote me on that. More than likely this is the original fabric. And honestly it’s not that bad. I mean… I wouldn’t have picked them if I were buying them today. But come one people, they were free! And you know what, free makes them beautiful. And on top of that, they are really high quality furniture! I mean they were bought ages ago and managed to survive my accident-prone childhood. They are ingrained into my very soul! Every Christmas it was these couches that we piled onto to open presents and listen to mom play the piano… ah… memory lane…

Now as much as I adore my cute little apartment and all it’s free furniture (because I believe I paid for maybe 4 pieces in the whole apartment!) I’ve lately been feeling furniture envy. Whenever I see someone with a living room with matching furniture all color coordinated with fancy wall art all around it I get jealous.

So at about 5 pm on Saturday night, after an afternoon of hanging out in a semi-dressed state and drinking margaritas, I headed over to Hancock Fabrics to figure out if this hair brained idea of mine was in any way feasible.

Turns out, it absolutely was. I went there with a vague idea of the measurements of my love seats and trying to calculate just how much I could charge to my credit card if need be. I was hoping that the fabric-store ladies would be so kind as to help me deduce an estimated yardage that was at least in the ballpark of my required amount. I browsed the fabric options for a while, meaning that I located and walked straight to the discounted and discontinued sale rack to start getting an idea on prices. Then I went to the woman who looked to be in charge and said

“Hi. I’ve either had the greatest idea in the world, or the stupidest one. I’m hoping you can help me” and laid out my plans for her approval or rejection.

Well it turns out, it wasn’t an entirely off the wall idea after all! Turns out, they have a chart for doing just that! That means that other people have arrived at a similar conclusion to mine about the state of their furniture! And, it means that some brilliant furniture person said “you know what… someone may want to put new fabric on this chair and I will make that easier for them!”

WELL THANK THE GOOD LORD IN HEAVEN FOR THAT FRIENDLY FELLOW!

Thanks to that handy little chart, I determined that I could absolutely afford some sale fabric to reupholster my +20 year old love seats! And more importantly, I felt like I had a good solid grounding point to start from. Hard evidence that other people had done this and come out of it alive.

So I picked up my bolt of fabric, carried it proudly to the cutting table, and announced I would like to purchase 14 yards of fabric to reupholster my couches, if-you-please. (It only said 12 yards on the chart, but seeing as I had no freaking clue what I was about to do I decided that 2 extra was worth the $10 more if it saved me a nervous break down when I inevitably screwed up.)

There was only 11 3/4 yards on the bolt. The last bolt of this fabric that Hancock Fabrics has ANYWHERE and it’s 6 inches short! (teehee!) JERKS!

But, with a little reassuring, the woman at the counter, who had been so helpful and kind in the face of my margarita enhanced insanity, encouraged me to go for it anyway. There is no nap in this fabric, no pattern to match. I could railroad the pieces and make use of what would have been scraps otherwise! GREAT! I handed over the credit card, walked out of the store, and promptly called my grandmother to offer words of sewing and upholstering wisdom.

But I have been failing significantly less at the “knit regularly” game! So let’s give me some credit, ok? Thanks.

Since we last spoke I have started and finished 3 projects! I know that doesn’t sound like much to you crazy knitters who have all sorts of free time to knit and resources to do so and can whip out a sweater a month (I’m looking at you, sister!)

Now to be fair, one of those projects has been deleted from memory and existence due to the fact that the person it was created for, well, he turned out to be a giant tool bucket full of loose screws. But goodness it was a fine-looking little project I whipped up! Oh well. That’s what I get for messing with The Curse. Lesson learned. I experienced it here too, but in a significantly more pleasant situation, overall.

On a much happier note we have here some very stylishly retro leg warmers.

My goodness! Look how slender and long my legs look in those warm little ditties! I made these for someone I’ve never even met! I hope she likes ‘em, because I, personally, think they turned out ADORABLY!

And not to mention that thanks to the two sets of leg warmers that I created in the past few months, my Continental Knitting skillz are off the chart now! Actually – they are right on it (bad joke) because now I’m working on my first color-work piece and I’m rocking the two handed knitting!!! Blue in the left hand, white in the right hand. Yes that’s right. I’m a double fisted knitting fool!

And here we have a gloriously snuggly Alpaca wool beanie-style hat that I made just in time for the weather to turn+90 degrees.

Can we say “Timing fail,” all together now please?

But hey, that’s what happens when you meet me and start asking for knitted gifties in March! At least I made it for him.

I mean, considering that pesky curse and my recent run-in with it, I’d say it was pretty gutsy of me! Granted, it’s not a sweater, but we knitters understand that the rule is not actually tied to the physical sweater, but the act of knitting itself. We also understand that it’s just too much fun to knit for people who actually appreciate it, and those people are so few and far between, that sometimes you have to just grit your teeth and say “You know what, curse? You can bite me” and knit the gifty anyway. Am I right?

Finally, I started knitting for myself as well!

Here is me modeling my February Lady Sweater, which I had originally intended to have completed in February until, well, February happened.

This sweater now has exactly .8 of a sleeve. And as soon as I make myself pick it up again, it will be finished in one evening and ready to block. But you all remember my issue with the Second Syndrome, right?

At any rate, making this decision around about Dec 1 means that for the remaining 3 weeks before the big day I am spending my evenings with yarn in hand and not being very sociable. I think all crafters can relate to this feeling of slight panic that your plans will not be completed in time. That you’ll end up having to buy a gift certificate after buying all that fancy yarn, leaving you with a pair of 1/2 finished socks that aren’t even your size!

So anyway, as I was settling into my cozy bed with my freshly wound yarn to start on a friend’s Christmas gifty, I realized that the pattern is nothing but K1P1 ribbing for miles and miles! Easy enough pattern to memorize. Handy too, because I borrowed the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts from our local library and need to get it back in a timely manner. So as I looked at the yarn and imagined the miles and miles of ribbing I had in my very near future – I decided that there was no time like the present to learn to knit continental style or what is known as “picking” stitches.

Up until this point I have always been and English knitter or “thrower” and it has suited me just fine. I’m quick and consistent – my gauge may not be dead on pattern – but it’s uniform and predictable and always works out in the end. But the thought of switching back and forth from purl to knit  for 50 inches or more was just too much for my tired little hands and wrists.

So I picked up that yarn in my left hand and forced my way through it! And so far so good! I’ve got about 1/4 of the project down in just a few nights and I’m gaining speed with every hour that passes through that left hand! And to boot – I taught myself the magic loop method of circular knitting! I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment, but the short circular just wasn’t working for me! I may never go back to DPNs though – I don’t have to worry about ladders or dropping stitches like I did with the double-pointed needles, and that is fine with me.

"Digging for Gold"

The point of all this is not that I’m amazing and taught myself two new tricks in the same night. No – the point is that while I was sitting there, tongue hanging out and eyes crossed in concentration as I focused on not dropping that left hand yarn – I somehow started thinking of this little saying my father taught me as a child. It goes like this:

“You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose.”

That used to make me giggle so much when I was little. Mostly because he would say it if someone was caught picking their nose and that’s funny in itself. Now I don’t really know what that was in my head – best I can come up with is that continental knitting is called “picking” so the word was on my brain. What can I say?

So now I’m sitting alone in my room saying this little ditty over and over as I “pick” my stitches up and yes, making myself giggle – when it dawns on me; that’s some damned good advice!

Really though – if you take away the grossness factor and forget that at its surface it’s about sticking your finger in someone else’s nose and digging around in it – and think about it without the mental picture – it’s advice I could have used a lot sooner in life! Still don’t get it? Let me elaborate.

It’s not about boogers and snot and noses and fingers. It’s about what you can do and control vs what you can’t. You can choose who is part of your life and what role they play in it, and you can do what you want with your own life and your own body. But no matter how much you want to or what the reason) you can never decide for other people what they should do. Your friends will do what they will do – and you have to learn to deal with that and accept it. And choose your friends based on that knowledge!

Wow. I mean, WOW! – That understanding would have made so many life situations so much easier if I had just paid attention sooner! Drug addicted ex-boyfriend – “Can’t fix you, sorry.” Roommate driving you batty with her manipulative pity party? “Can’t fix you, sorry.”

Try it yourself sometime. It’s really quite liberating to realize that no matter how much you care – at the end of the day, it’s not your decision!

So be more careful about where you point that finger. It’ll make your life a lot easier.

Museum of Kitschy Stitches - Complete with matching website!

I had crossed paths with this book once before, when visiting a friend in Raleigh, and had fallen in love with it then. But that was over a year ago and I had since forgotten the wonders that await inside this little beauty. For the rest of the week I couldn’t put this book down. I would browse it before  I went to bed (which caused strange and terrifying dreams), I would peruse it’s pages as I rested my hands/wrist from my own knitting projects (praying to anyone and everyone that they don’t ever end up in a book like this). Hell! I even brought it to work to show off to some of my co-workers who like to tease me about my little hobby.

See here is the thing. I knit. Yes, and it’s not all that common among people my age and especially not in my professional circle. It’s a dying art that has existed for centuries. But that means more than just a heritage… it means a long-standing tradition of horrible, heinous offenses to the senses. And that is what this little book reminds us of. I think it’s important to both respect the art of needle crafts for the hard work, beauty and all that jazz – but let’s not forget about little gems like these:

Seriously?! A BRA?

Everyone needs to be grounded now and again! Yes friends – that is in fact knitted ladies underwear. And the really awesome thing about this pattern – I would bet money on the fact that more often than not (if it ever was used) it was created using some form of acrylic yarn. Wow. Cozy…… PSYCH!

(This pattern isn’t in the book, I found it on EBay. It can be yours for the low price of $4.95!)

If you like sarcasm and enjoy a good laugh – I highly recommend this book to you! You can also enjoy the rantings of the author, Stitchy McYarnpants, at her blog at StitchyMcYarnpants.com.

This post is about anything that has to be made twice and the horrible, evil, inhumanity of it! Let’s list some of these items, shall we?

• Sleeves : The short sleeve or tank top style really isn’t a big deal at all. I mean, a few measly rows of pain and it’s over. But the especially tedious sleeve style is the dreaded “long sleeve”. These bad boys just make you want to curl up in a ball and cry. “What do you mean i have to knit the exact same 28 inches of stockinette stitch AGAIN!?” And if it’s a man’s sleeve – holy crap forget about it! Lord forbid you’re making a sleeve with a cable pattern too!
• Socks: As if turning that heel the first time wasn’t bad enough, let’s do it again, shall we?!
• Mittens: Ok – so really these technically need to be in the list, but let’s face it, there isn’t much challenging about mittens. Unless of course they have some ridiculously complicated, although beautiful, color work pattern on them top to bottom. Then I could see that second one being a bit more daunting.
• Gloves: Far worse than turning that heel, WAY worse than the second mile of the long sleeved sweater; is the glove. the horrible, awful, terrible, 5 fingered glove. I mean, really – who thought that evil contraption up?! Fingers are just plain mean. Think about it – not only do you have to make the glove twice, but that’s 10 times you have to make those stupid little fingers! that’s 8 loose ends to go back and weave in, 10 little tiny circles to knit on little tiny DPNS – what if your dating the 6 Fingered man from Princess Bride?! Man, you couldn’t PAY me to make him gloves. That’s just adding insult to injury right there.

Ok – so I think we get the point. Everyone who has ever knit something that required a pair has had to face the “2nd sock slump”. Or perhaps you prefer to call it the “Double’s Droop”? (TEE HEE!)  How about “The Succeeding Failure?” (Oxymoron much?) “Replay Rut”? Help me out here…what do you call the “Double Doldrums?”