A few years ago (15) I put on a skirt that I hadn’t worn for a while only to find that it had become so tight, that the zipper got stuck, and I had to literally cut the skirt off my chubby rump. It was humiliating and not an easy task. Imagine taking a sharp cutting instrument to the bottom hem of a very tight, knee-length skirt and contorting your hand so that you can cut up the front, between your legs, past your belly to sever the waistband and free yourself. Believe me, it’s not easy, in fact, in my attempt I managed to snip a chunk of fat from my tummy. Crying, I looked in the mirror and vowed never to get stuck in my cloths again.

Well, it’s happened again, not once but three times!  It’s those darn drawstrings they put in our spandex bike shorts and fitness pants (the ones that are continuous so you can’t tie a bow). While I love them and actually seek them out, at times they cause major distress.  Once, while on a bike ride I was desperate to take a code yellow when the loop knot in my bike shorts wouldn’t release.  After a few attempts to untie the knot I finally had to use brut force to break the elastic as to keep from wetting my chamois. It was not easy, those drawstrings are extremely hard to break. Just yesterday, it was my nice, very expensive Lululemon togs. Twice now I’ve had a really hard time keeping the drawstring from locking me inside my Lulu’s. I got out once by squeezing free, but the other time I had to use brut force again. Frankly, I am a bit pissed and have decided to look into the matter for instruction should I find myself in this situation again.

Here’s what I found — After wasting my time looking online, I decided to swallow my pride and call the always happy to help gals at Lululemon.  I was told that when you can’t get the knot untied, you should gently loosen it with a safety-pin until it opens up. Dooh! Why didn’t I think of that?  Guess I’ll be roaming around with a safety-pin attached to my pants for now on. Just in case.

There you have it. Consider yourself informed.