O my peeps, summer has hit the Pacific Northwest with a vengeance. Yesterday it was 94 in Seattle, and today it was about 85. Keep in mind, Monday’s high was somewhere around 54 degrees.

I blame Al Gore.

Some time earlier this afternoon, I swore to myself that I would be allowed two (2) weather-related complaints per day. (You understand, the Erika is a cold-weather species, and experiences grave distress when temperatures reach 80 degrees or higher.) And I’ve already topped that for the day, I’m afraid.

I’ll just say that the mass good-bye party with coworkers past and present was awfully fun, but that three hours on the second floor of a crowded bar without air conditioning on the second-hottest day of the year just about wrecked me. I bailed early, begged off my other social engagement, drove home, fed the cats, and went straight into the shower. Feeling a bit more human now.

I am a bit sleepier than usual, though. Last night, just as I had managed to drift off to sleep, suddenly - it was like someone was standing at the foot of my bed, shining a flashlight in my eyes. I cracked open one eye and saw that it was the moon, shining right into my face. This was so ludicrous and unexpected that I started laughing. Then I rolled out of bed and closed the curtains, and I do believe that was the first time in my entire life I’d had to close the curtains to shut out the moon.

Brady is relieved that Memorial Day has passed, which means that his white paws are appropriate attire.

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Last night I decided to wash and block Sienna before doing the actual finishing (weaving in the ends, sewing down the turned-in contrasting color hem, and so forth). I’d like to pretend that this is some kind of special technique, but the truth is that some sort of strange miracle happened, and I washed EVERY SINGLE DISH, so the sink was free.

OMG! Empty sink!

If those of you on the left side of the aircraft will look out your windows, you’ll be able to see the majestic snow-capped peaks of Mt. Dishmore as we make our final approach to Seatac Airport.

I washed and washed, and squeezed and squeezed, and hauled it outside to block on my porch. Something troubled me about having to lay out three bath towels side-by-side so that Sienna could be laid out properly. I dismissed these qualms. Hush, qualms!

In fact, it wasn’t until I reached forward to straighten the collar, and happened to look down, that I finally had to admit it. Something Was Wrong.

Now, I am not a small girl. Far from it. If you haven’t met me in person, it’s probably hard for you to judge the scale of this picture, me lining up my hips with Sienna. Trust me: it’s funny.

A long long time ago, back when I had knit only five or six things, I launched myself at the “Go Everywhere Go With Anything Cardigan” from Deb Stoller’s book Stitch ‘N Bitch. Unfortunately, I didn’t understand the difference between “finished measurements” and “your measurements,” so I kept adding inches to the wrong set of numbers.

I was also afraid that it would be too small to fit, so I added a few extra inches “for good luck.” It turns out that a sweater with 12 inches of ease is just as unwearable as a sweater that’s too small. (Who knew?) And I did a really good job on the intarsia Tux on the back, thus ensuring that I would never have the heart to get rid of it.

I still wear my Tux sweater around the house, because it’s warm. It’s hilariously oversized, though, so I would never ever ever wear it in public.

Now fast-forward to the Time of Sienna. I knew what I was doing. I knew the difference between “finished measurements” and “your measurements.” I did the gauge swatch, and washed it, and measured myself three times, and I was totally ready to go.

Then when I had finished the fronts and back, I attached them all, and tried it on.

“Oh no,” I thought. “This will never do.” I tugged fretfully at the fronts, while holding the sides together. It was turning out far too small.

I knew what to do, though! I cleverly created a pair of knit-in darts, basically a fabric extension between the fronts and backs. I was so proud of those darts! What a clever solution! Now it would totally fit me!

Back to yesterday evening. I stared at Sienna for a really long time, my forehead slightly crinkled. Eventually, the force of denial was not enough to keep reality at bay.

I went into the house.

I dug out the Tux sweater.

I took it out to the deck.

I laid it atop Sienna.

OMFG, it’s the exact same size.

Also, can you see? Can you see how one sleeve is twice as wide as the other? I’m not even sure how I managed that, to tell you the truth.

So to sum up:

1. I already have a hilariously oversized sweater. Not really looking for a second.

2. I can’t just remove the darts and re-seam the sides, because I picked up and knit the sleeves - so there would be that issue with the extra two inches of sleeve fabric to hide.

3. One of the sleeves is twice as wide as the other.

Sweater? I see no sweater here.

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Sleeve…

You may notice that this is being posted in the middle of a workday. Well… yes. The layoff was hardly unexpected - we’ve been discussing it for months - and a layoff doesn’t mean the same thing in the high tech startup sector as it does to, say, a steelworker.

Layoffs are simply par for the course in High Tech Startup Land. A sort of after-party, if you will. This is the third layoff I’ve been through in the last seven years, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be my last.

Err…

I did receive a generous severance package, the break-up was as amicable as one could hope, and I wish them the best. I have several possibilities in the pipeline already, but of course, if you know of any openings for a technical writer with a background in Unix/Linux system administration, drop me a line!

Sleeve…

In the mean time, I suddenly find myself with considerably more knitting time than usual, at least in the short term. (And after all, this is why we stash yarn, amirite?)

Sleeve!

And it does mean I’ll be able to spend more time with Kimble, The Amazing Self-Hugging Cat.

[NOTE] Flickr will apparently be down for two hours tonight, starting at 8PM Pacific Time. Images will not be visible during this time.

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