Serious case of SMS...is it contagious??

Sorry for disappearing on everyone.  I've come down with a serious case of SMS and I'm not sure if it's contagious or not.  Didn't want to infect everyone else.  What is SMS you may ask?  It's "Second Mitten Syndrome".  Knowledge is power.  So please alert all knitters you know about this serious disease.  

It starts without you even knowing it.  You have a friend/brother/father/whoever who wants a pair of mittens for christmas.  You say "sure!  no problem!"  Then you find a pattern and yarn and set to work.  All starts well.  Then you realize that you're making them WAY too big.  You frog the entire mitten...start over.  Try again.  Fiddle with your gauge.  Frog again.  Finally you get a good gauge and can really set to work.  All goes well until you reach the middle of the hand.  You keep using your husband's hand as a gauge for how big to make the mitts.  You think all is going well.  Then you get to the fingers and finish them all off.  "One done!", you think.  You try it on yourself.  And your husband.  It looks okay, but you're not totally satisfied.  Your hubby says they're fine and likes them.  But you're not so sure.  Now you're annoyed with the mitten.  You decide you'll knit up the second one later and start another project.  

You've completed a few more projects and decide to start another mitten.  It's a different pattern so you think that this one will work out much better!  It's high hopes in the beginning, but then it starts going down the path of the first mitten you started.  What is it with men's fingerless mittens??  SAC!  

Now you know the facts.  Be careful when knitting mittens.  Women's fingerless mittens seem to turn out well and don't take too long...so there isn't much need for worry with them.  If you start a pair of men's mittens and come down ill with SMS also, the cure is just to put them down for awhile, hope that you'll pick them up again before christmas, and find a new project!

The first pair I started.  These convert into real mittens w/ the flap on the top.  I love how the thumb can peek out of the little hole, or go back inside.  

I really liked this pair at first.  I used sock yarn and held two strands of different shades of orange to come up with an interesting orange color.  They don't look too bad on, but when I take them off, I think they look like I knitted them for a monster.  I know I'll knit up their mates sometime over the next month, but for right now they're hiding in my yarn box.