Well, it took me the better part of a week to figure it out. It started out like this:
I stupidly tried doing it at the front desk which meant that every time somebody came in or the phone rang, I'd have to stop what I was doing with the end result being I was constantly losing my train of thought. As the afternoon worn on, my blood sugar plummeted as did my ability to think in a straight line, let alone a trippy, windie, leather-laced line.
I could tell Dan was getting a little annoyed just WATCHING me get frustrated. Towards the end of the day, I told him I was just going to take the damn thing home and work on it there.
That was a Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday night, I searched for videos, (which there's a real dearth of direct, how-to ones out there) and then tried to trapeze stitch it. It was a struggle, but I managed to get one half of it sort of ok. But during my research, I realized I had spiraled the top in the wrong direction which I had NO IDEA would be an issue. So I threw the thing across the room and gave up for the night.
Wednesday night, I decided to not even try to trapeze the other side and instead, just did the spiraling. Done.
Thursday night, I screwed up the courage to attack the other trapeze. This time, instead of a confusing video with some guy who assumed I knew what the hell I was doing and why, I just printed out a blow up of a photo I took of the thing before I ripped it out. I quieted my mind, stared at the picture and wouldn't you know it, I finished it in about five minutes! My hands were raw from handling the stiff leather but dammit, I did it.
WTF?
Half the trouble I'm having with shoe repair is that I was raised a traditional female in this society. Yeah, I can cook and clean like nobody's business, crochet and sew, but handling tools, knowing when to use a washer with a nut? Stuff like that? I have zero experience with. Hell, I dated a motorcycle mechanic for nearly 8 years and while the work and what needs to be done is vaguely familiar, the tools and nuts and bolts of it is not. I must've watched him tear down several dozen carburetors, but do you think I'd know what to do on my own? Nope. My brain was just never wired with those pathways. So, the trouble I had with the glove is part of that issue: I've never participated in sports that had gear and don't know thing one about any gear for anything. Finding out the direction of the spiraling on the top of the glove's webbing was shocking to me.
To his credit, Dan is usually patient with my ignorance. Usually.
Oh, and as a side note: it's a damn good thing I took a picture of the glove before I re-laced it WITH the tag on it because in my frustration, I had taken the tag off of it and it somehow ended up in the trash. After I had a little conversation with St. Anthony, ("Tony, Tony, look around. I've got something can't be found.") I poked around in the garbage, compared a ticket I found with the one in the photo and ohthankgawd, I found it. Though, I'm still a little terrified of calling the guy and having him be disappointed in the job I did. The thing is wrapped up tight around a ball right now to shape the webbing. I'll have to call him on Tuesday when I go back in. Fingers crossed....