Cake, Wine, and Knitting: A Study of Proportion

Saints have no moderation, nor do poets, just exuberance. ― Anne Sexton

Even after all these years of making my own garments, I find it strange that I can knit a sweater to fit me, especially considering that I have no sense of proportion in most other aspects of my life. For example: if I want ice cream, my instinct tells me that I must fill the entire soup bowl to the brim with ice cream in order to be satisfied. I look over at my hubby, and he has spooned out the exact recommended serving size into his bowl, as prescribed on the box, without measuring, purely by instinct (it's half a cup, if you don't know). He eats it, and he is satisfied. I eat mine, thinking the whole time about how much I would like another bowl right after.

Yes. Proportion: not simple.

Another example: freebie fruit. I got wind of a fellow in town who had far too many apples and pears from his trees and was offering them for free. I asked around to see if anyone wanted any, and I determined that I would get just enough for myself and two other people.

Well... I guess I don't know what "enough for myself" looks like:

We've been bravely working through them, but the fruit flies were setting up a condo in the fruit bowl, so I put a lot of them into the fridge, turned a bunch of the apples into applesauce, and then decided that some of those pears should become a cake. I used one of Joy the Baker's recipes, which turned into a gloriously puffed up cake with some crumble on top. In case you're wondering: I used a mixture of plain non-fat Greek yogurt and skim milk in place of buttermilk, and I reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup. I at least try to have a tiny bit of proportion in my life:

Example two: Last Monday, the hubby and I went on a wine tour in the Cowichan Valley here on Vancouver Island. I got the tour on a special deal online, and it sounded like a nice day out. It was a beautiful day: not too hot, but sunny and pleasant:

The first winery we went to served us our sips of wine with enough time to sit and think about what we were tasting. We also got lunch there, and we left with a bottle to take home. The other two were nice, but we noticed that they served us our samples one after another after another... which was a bit fast for us.

By 2:00pm, I thought I was a pretty hilariously interesting person. I'd be worried about what the others on the tour thought, but they all felt the same about themselves. We were a jolly group by that time, to say the least, especially for a Monday afternoon. I noticed one of the winery cats watching us with proper disdain:

But the grapes were beautiful to look at, and ready for picking:

And the views were spectacular wherever we went:

And then, there's my knitting. I've been feeling a bit worried that I was losing interest altogether in the craft. This is probably due to the fact that I've been chipping away at this skein of silk that, try as I might, does not seem to get any smaller. I suppose it would help if I did some good long sessions of knitting, but I'm getting terribly bored with it, so much so that I didn't want to post a blog entry because I was so disenchanted. I felt like throwing in the towel and deleting this blog and sitting in the corner and pouting. Forget it. No more yarn, no more knitting, I quit and all that:

But the other day, I saw a girl walk past with a beautiful knitted top on that I couldn't stop looking at. That seemed to be just the ticket. I went straight home and started pulling magazines and looking at my yarn stash to see what I could use to try to make a version of it. It felt good to feel inspired by a project. I don't know if I'll pull it off, but I at least feel like finishing my current project now.

I think I might have a bit of chocolate and get on to my project now... just a bit... not the whole bar... not all at once, anyway... ahem... Happy Labour Day, everyone.