The Summer Reading Challenge begins tomorrow, and several participants have their reading lists up (including someone who is going to read Her Privates We, and man, is that ever an unfortunate title).

#2 son has a summer reading list. $40 worth of reference books, plus seven novels, only one of which is available in a cheap edition. They are to own the books so they can write in them, so we are talking about $150 for a 10th grade summer reading list. This is as bad as a college class.

We also have college classes to pay for -- #2 daughter's tuition for eight weeks is just about the amount of money I take home in five weeks. Fortunately, she has something to contribute, but we are still definitely on austerity measures for the summer.

So I went to Frugalreader, where it turned out that they had all but one of the novels listed. I listed nine of my books, and so far have had four requested. As soon as my requesters receive their books, I get to request #2 son's books -- if they are still there. I am optimistic. This will get most of those novels to us for $1.59 (the cost of sending the books) apiece, instead of $16.95.

Whatever I cannot get that way, I will then check the local used bookstores for. Amazon has used books, but the shipping of $3.95 makes them expensive for used books, even if the seller is only asking for pennies. I may use that method for the reference books, though.

I am not sure whether it seems more unreasonable that the high school should ask us to spend $150 for a summer reading list for one class, or that publishers should offer classic novels only as $16.95 trade paper, rather than $3.95 mass paperbacks. Shouldn't the masses get to read The Grapes of Wrath on the cheap?

The end of the sewing marathon. There are several hems and things to do, but each of us ended up with two skirts and two tops, as well as a beginning on the rest of the plan.

Here is #2 daughter's trumpet skirt, Simplicity 5194, in microfiber twill.

We ended up with a lot of microfibers. They feel great, and the lady at the fabric store said they wear very well.

If you look them up online, you find claims that they have a luxurious feel, great durability, and excellent hand.

So far, we would agree with that. although I do not yet know about the durability question. I am inclined to be suspicious of artificial fibers, even though the developers of microfibers want us to call them "supernatural" rather than lumping them in with the un-natural fibers. If our skirts begin summoning demons or having visions of the future or anything, I'll let you know.

Here is a sweater-knit tank from McCall's 5063. This was a really easy pattern, and very cute.

I have a long-sleeve top cut from this fabric also, and a burgundy knit in the same pattern, as well as a matching skirt. I think I got tired of taking pictures of clothes at that point.

Here is my blouse from Butterick 4467. I had to redo the darts and the sleeves. This pattern calls itself easy, but the set-in sleeves and bust darts seem to me to disqualify it from that. In fact, an easy pattern should not include zippers, set-in sleeves, buttons, gathers, pleats, facings...

I'm not saying the patterns shouldn't include those things, just that they shouldn't claim to be easy.

And if it is hard, it should be more exciting when you finish than this is. However, it is a great color, another of those microfibers, and will look very ladylike with my skirts. This is the fabric that "brings out the gray in your hair."

Here's my gray skirt, from the same pattern and fabric as #2 daughter's, but I chose the A-line gored version rather than the trumpet. It is hanging around with the blue blouse, as both of them need hemming. We wanted to get #2 daughter's gear finished so she could take it off to summer school with her on Thursday.

Now, it might be that you would like to do a sewing marathon yourself some day. If so, I have some advice for you.

First, have a sewing buddy. It is more fun to have someone to talk to while you do this, and you can shunt off on him or her the things you don't like to do. In our case, #2 daughter is a dab hand at zippers, and I enjoy hemming.

Second, get your zippers and interfacing and such ahead of time, and make sure you have enough pins on hand. We had to make a couple of trips out for supplies. However, if you like shopping, this could be a nice break.

Third, have a good stack of movies to watch. Conversation can languish while you are rereading to yourself the part where it explains what to do with the blasted facing, or unpicking the casing that ended up being too narrow, or searching bootlessly through the debris for the directions to the particular pattern you are trying to work with, and it is nice to have some distraction in the background.

In our case, the boys had rented a video game before it occurred to us that we might want movies, so we had a steady background of "Biff! Pow!" and rather heroic music. We invited them to join us and sew themselves some clothes, but for some reason they preferred to play video games and hang out with their friends.

Fourth, get your meals arranged early in the day, before you really get started. This can be a meal in the crockpot, or stir-fry cut up and the sauce mixed and the rice in the rice machine. But you will not feel like stopping and cooking, so if you don't make a plan you will end up calling out for pizza or noshing on nuts and berries. In both cases, you will have to wash your hands before returning to your sewing.

Fifth, stop and stretch out sometimes.

If you are finding all this about sewing dull, you may be pleased that the sewing marathon is over. However, we are expecting a fabric shipment today, so there may be more sewing in upcoming days.

Still, real life starts back up today. I go back to work today, we are opening the second store tomorrow, I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and a haircut scheduled for Thursday.  #2 daughter has a lunch date today and leaves on Thursday. Life is real, life is earnest.

Baby zucchini!

Also baby peppers. One per plant.

Here is what we will do with these baby vegetables. The zukes and one of the peppers will be sliced and sauteed in a smidgen of olive oil with some of our plentiful basil . We'll throw in a handful of frozen corn (too early for fresh, of course) and sprinkle the whole thing with a little Parmesan cheese. Put the lid on the skillet for a minute or two, and you have a wonderful dish.

Obviously, I haven't yet done any weeding, but that is still going to happen. Today, most likely.

Apart from church, a family cookout, and the completion of the Jasmine sweater, we spent yesterday sewing.

The things we finished were dark blue, which requires talent to photograph, so you will have to use your imagination to appreciate these things fully.

This is Simplicity 7183 in peachskin.

It's a simple pullover camisole, but it has a bit of elastic in the back for a nicer fit than most.

#2 daughter wanted some waist shaping, but our experiments showed that a shaped camisole in a woven fabric could not be pulled on over the head. Actually, pulling it on was okay, but once in there, she was trapped. She had to tear the seam to get herself out. There. Now you don't have to do that experiment yourself.

Here is the well-designed skirt from McCall's 5008. It's a circular skirt with a good flat yoke.

Well, yes, of course it is flat and upside down. I wanted you to be able to see the shape. It's a very graceful skirt, and the yoke ensures that the fullness is all at the hem, not the hip.

I am not sure what to call the fabric we used for the skirt. It is heavier than the peachskin for the camisole, but still light and drapey. I believe it is a microfiber.

Here is how the two pieces look with a jacket from #2 daughter's closet. She is ready for her job interviews now.

Well, in fact, you cannot see how the pieces look at all, because they are dark blue and have therefore just swallowed up all the light.

I think we will be finishing burgundy stuff today. It may photograph better. On the other hand, since I am the one doing the photography, it may not.

We rounded up our fabric estimates when we had it cut, and it is turning out that each length is making the item it was chosen for, plus a second garment for the other seamstress. I am using a burgundy paisley and #2 daughter is using a ginger African print, but we are sharing the gray and blue stuff. We are being amazed at how many pieces of clothing we are getting from the one well-organized fabric shopping trip. Before we tried out the Australian sewing plan, the amount we spent would have produced one print dress. Using coordinated solids, we are not ending up putting the excess in the scrap bag. It is already evident that this approach to sewing is an economical one.

Nadia helped us, as you can see. It is true that her idea of helping concentrated on chasing all bits of paper, especially the patterns, and sleeping on the materials. Layers of cat hair deposited on our fabrics were also part of the service. Let us not speak of the claw marks and rips left in the patterns when she pounced on them. Nor of the footprints.

Let us not speak at all of what a mess we ourselves are making. The pictures speak for themselves.

When Nadia got tired of helping, Toby stepped in to assist.

He has recovered entirely from his adventure with the donkey.

You cannot see in this picture that Nadia has commandeered the beanbag chair which was brought out so that #2 daughter could watch movies in comfort while sewing.

I did some baking before dawn this morning so as not to heat up the house too much, and put dinner in the crockpot for the same reason. I am enjoying the quiet of the house, which will last only until someone else gets up.

The sewing marathon continues! 

Hey -- I just happened upon something cool, and so have come back to add a link Now, #2 daughter is moving from college to work, and needs appropriate clothes for that. And I have this aversion to shopping and am working hard on acquiring enough clothes to constitute a normal wardrobe. So our clothes-making project is in the need rather than the want category. It is the grown-up equivalent of that back-to-school shopping trip I will have to take my boys on in a couple of months.

However, if you are inclined to overdo the clothes shopping, then this link will take you to the Refashionista Pledge. This clever plan encourages remaking of old clothes and the using up of one's fabric and yarn stash rather than buying new clothes. It looks to me as though today is the last day to join. Even if you don't want to join, though, you might enjoy their creative ideas and book suggestions.

The Regal Orchid Jasmine sweater is finished! This is a lovely sweater, soft and pretty and very feminine. Not hot, either, so the recipient -- my dear college chum M -- should be able to wear it now and in the future.

I will be shipping it off on Tuesday. Then I shall begin my own Jasmine sweater. And #2 daughter wants one, too, so I guess that will be my summer knitting.

This is "Jasmine" from Elsebeth Lavold's Summer Breeze collection, in Endless Summer's Luna, color Regal Orchid. I can recommend pattern and yarn without reserve.

I took a picture of this sweater hanging up, as well, which solved the foreshortening effect of photographing it on the table, but hides the lace, so I am not including it in the post..

The pattern is clear, well-written, and not difficult. I found no errors and made no changes.

How far have we gotten with our sewing marathon?

Well, I bought groceries and went to work, while #2 daughter went on a date. In the afternoon, it was back to the fabric store for pins (and snaps for work). Then we went, at That Man's suggestion, to a new bookstore on the south side of town. It is fun to go to a new independent bookstore, even though you have to think "How long will they be there? Three months?"

This bookstore has birds in it, which is picturesque, but I am allergic to them, so I had to leave more quickly than I would otherwise have chosen to, and I won't go back. And of course they are competition for our children's book business. Still, I wish them well. I got the impression that they might be a Lesbian hangout, so they may have enough of a special niche to survive.

They are also right next to the French bakery -- or not more than four doors down -- so #2 daughter and I strolled on over and indulged in brown butter and fresh pear tart and a nice pot of Earl Grey tea. Conversation flourished.

Once we got home, it was time to leave again to pick up #2 son for the movies. We saw The Da Vinci Code, which was very well filmed. The excessive easiness of the puzzles was more obvious in the movie even than in the book, I thought, and the violence had me closing my eyes a lot, but it was well done. #2 daughter hasn't read the book, but still enjoyed it. I can't say the rest of the things I would like to say about this movie without giving away the surprises, so I won't.

We ran into my son-in-law's parents in the parking lot. Fortunately, #2 daughter recognized them. It is embarrassing that I do not recognize them, but I maintain that it is their own fault because they keep changing their hair and clothing. She'll have a gray bell of hair and beige tailor-mades one time, and then the next she's a tousled redhead in capris. How can I be expected to keep track?

We cut a few things, including a top for the Sew? I Knit sewalong. No sewing took place. I did my storyboard, though, with my obviously limited graphic skills and in spite of the fact that I do not have all the fabric swatches yet. I think it is possible that I will still make a summer top or two during the sewalong, in spite of the thorough planning going on here. Or, ideally, I'll do it within the parameters of my Australian sewing plan.

We found that the storyboard idea was helpful, as we tended to ask each other, "What was I going to make with this?" This is surely more a result of our having done a stock-up at the fabric sale, than of scattiness or excessive distraction. Or not. In any case, I can see that the chances of our keeping the plan clearly in mind through the whole process without some sort of documentation would be slim. Some folks make electronic ones online, and sort of electronically check the pieces off as they are completed, but of course I do not know how to do that.

I am intending to get the machine up and running before church this morning.

There was also haircutting. #2 daughter gave #2 son a trim when she first got home from England, but he still had the mop seen on the right.  He asked her to give him a buzz cut and she obliged. I advised against it, actually, and offered to take him to the barber. He said that going to a barber and asking for a buzz cut was like going to the dentist to have your teeth brushed. Apparently, everyone does this cut at home. In fact, he remarked, his friend the Falcon was going to do it for him. #2 daughter did an excellent job. He looks great. It emphasizes his eyes. Will people fail to recognize him? It is possible.

Knitting took place. I am finishing up the top ribbing on the last sleeve while I read blogs this morning. I will be putting this baby together today.

It is time to begin planning the next project. My own Jasmine sweater? That would be the obvious choice. And yet, I actually have yarn for two other sweaters on hand, plus there is Erin already underway. No, it is in the 90s. Forget Erin. I will contemplate this question while I bind off.

#2 daughter and I went shopping for fabric last night, with limited success.

Actually, it was a huge success. We caught one of those 99 cent sales on patterns and stocked up. Well, by our standards. At one point, #2 daughter told one of the fabric store ladies that we owned "so many patterns." I knew that she was doing an Esquimaux Maiden, though. Our six patterns apiece will not impress any serious home sewer. However, we each bought three more, thus increasing our stashes by 50%.

We also bought vast quantities of good solid colors for a little bit of money. Microfibers, linen blends, Cuddleskin. We dissuaded one another from buying things that wouldn't be becoming to us (I did not get any dragons or tropical prints. Sigh. #2 daughter didn't get gigantic black and white prints or low-cut wrap tops. Sigh on her behalf). There was a moment when I held up a lovely soft blue to my face and #2 daughter helpfully said that it brought out the gray in my hair.

A passing clerk said it "brightened" my hair and brought out the blue in my eyes. What a nice lady.

Essentially, as #2 daughter pointed out, we bought the colors our makeup lady tells us to wear.

We did not find prints. That was the "limited success" part. We did find a great check suiting. Kali Mama has suggested some online fabric stores to me, and I am going to order prints, I think. The Australian plan tells you to find a print first and pick the solids from it, but they must not be shopping in a small town.

I must do the grocery shopping, and then we will do our storyboards. I will go to work and #2 daughter will go out with friends. Then we will begin our Great Memorial Day Sewing Weekend. #2 daughter wants to combine this with a TV marathon of "Law and Order," a program which I know will be full of distressing stuff. I hope to veto this, though I am willing to have it be a TV marathon of some kind while we sew. Comedies, for choice. Costume pieces. Movie musicals. Something that won't involve rapes and onscreen murders. 

We had planned to go last night to the free concert in the park with this famous local band. Locally famous, at least.

Ironydotcom came to dinner, and afterwards #1 son headed off to the park with his buds. #2 son declined to go, pointing out the heat. I thought about the parking difficulties and the mosquitoes. #2 daughter mused on these things also. We decided to let #1 son represent the family, and we stayed home and played some games instead. Wheedle, Malarkey, and Catchphrase, to be precise.

I knitted while playing, and nearly reached the point of decreasing. (I speak here of the second sleeve of the Regal Orchid Jasmine sweater.) Here they are, entirely unblocked and rolling in upon themselves freely.

#2 daughter tells me that irnoydotcom is prepared, should he begin dating a vampire. Vampires continue to be popular in mass market fiction (got the paperback advance yesterday, so I know). Vampire romance novels in particular are very popular. How strange is that?

But Wired magazine, which is always ahead of the curve, says that vampires are heading out. Snakes are next. I do not foresee snake-themed romance novels. #2 daughter thought it might be pirates next. Could be. We were discussing this in the gym. No one looked at us oddly.

Zucchini! I read once that it was best to take outdoor pictures at sunrise or sunset, and dawn is when I have time to take pictures, so I figure I should have splendid garden pictures. In fact, I get these crepuscular shots. Vampire zucchini?

Weeding will have to take place this weekend. On the right you can see lavender and basil. Pesto may also have to take place this weekend.

I will be working for a few hours tomorrow, and there is talk of a hike. The temperature discourages us from any outdoor adventures (concert in the park, anyone?) so it may be that we will not do any hiking at all.

Our Plan B is to go to the Hancock Fabrics Memorial Day Sale and spend the weekend inside, with the air conditioning on, sewing. We can venture out to grill something and pick basil

#2 daughter and I took the dogs for a walk in the park yesterday morning. That's Toby on the left, and Fiona on the right.

It's reaching the 90s by noon, but the mornings are still beautiful, and the dogs were thrilled to be out in the park.

All was going well. We were enjoying the day, catching up on #2 daughter's travel stories and getting our heart rates up.

We said our good mornings to the other people and the dogs said their good mornings to the other dogs.

We noticed this "Fitness Station" and briefly contemplated stopping there and doing some sit-ups or chin-ups.

Very briefly.

Can you see the tiny pony far off in the distance?

I handed Fiona off to #2 daughter and moved in to take a picture of the pony and his friend, a donkey. They were cute. I had no better reason than that. I was looking through the viewfinder and trying to persuade them to come closer.

The dogs, having suddenly thought of the possibility, dashed away and began chasing the pony and the donkey. #2 daughter was dragged to the edge of the barbed wire fence and decided not to be pulled through it. She let go of the leashes. We stood helplessly on our side of the barbed wire, yelling at the dogs, who ignored us completely.

The horse, showing great presence of mind, tried to step on Toby, but he rolled away. The donkey brayed loudly and kicked Toby in the head.

That was enough for Toby. He made a beeline for us, and I grabbed him. Fiona wanted to be further away from the dangerous beasts than we were. She took off for the bridge. #2 daughter caught her, but could not persuade her to come back to the point where Toby and I were waiting. She dug her heels in and would not move.

I joined them. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, we figured, and it served Toby right. He likes to run off, and he loves to chase other creatures, and perhaps, we thought, this experience would make him think twice about his wicked ways.

Toby seemed fine, so we kept on with our walk. We took the dogs down to the creek, and Toby sank into the water and wallowed a bit. One of his main goals is to be as dirty and smelly as possible.

But after a while, he began to seem tired. He didn't want to continue the walk. He curled up on himself like a shrimp and shivered. We were alarmed. We took him to the vet.

He is expected to live. We will be going to the gym this morning, rather than the park.

Yesterday, I persuaded #2 daughter to go to cardiopump with me. She didn't even pretend that it was fun, and today is feeling as though she is coming down with something. I am hoping that it is leftover jet lag, plus that achy feeling that you might think was the flu if you don't usually go to cardiopump.

She brought us souvenirs, including a Yorkie candy bar ("not for girls!" says the wrapper, and apparently the large size claims to be for "well hungry men"), and a wealth of stories which I won't tell you because she has a xanga of her own. Last night we stayed up with the boys playing Catchphrase and eating pizza. It's very fun having her home.

The Sew? I Knit sewalong is doing a top between now and July 15th. I think I am going to make it as many tops as I can make between now and July 15th. I have three I had already begun (I know, it's shocking), and also I am determined to do the SWAP (Sewing With a Plan) idea.

We are beginning with one for #2 daughter, so she will be prepared for her job-hunting. This is my less-than-skillfully-done "storyboard," which is the cornerstone of the SWAP plan, the place where you plan the whole thing out. I'll add swatches of fabric once we have them.

I've ordered an Italian silk suiting in a subtle houndstooth check with beige, purple, and green shades in it. Once it arrives, I hope to find a good subtle geometric print that goes with it for a two-piece dress. The rest we'll do in solids -- purple, green, navy, gray, maybe ginger. It all depends on the exact nature of the print, so we're waiting till that comes to do any further fabric shopping.

We cut out the top from Simplicity 7183, using a navy blue peachskin. We're going to do the pants and skirt as well, but #2 daughter doesn't care for the jacket from this pattern. I'm trying mostly to use patterns she already owns, but we will have to find a jacket pattern for her suit.

Maybe this one.

I've been delayed on my own SWAP because I have not yet found a print. I think this may be because I do fabric shopping like a quilter -- ambling around the fabric store waiting for the sheer gorgeousness of a fabric to call out to me. Really, if you look in your closet, even at clothes you really like, you probably wouldn't be wowed by the fabric on the bolt. When you buy fabric for clothes, you ought to think about things like how it works with your pattern and your skin tone and your lifestyle, rather than how it would look flat, like a work of art. I have to adjust my thinking on this.

So when I was wowed by the Italian suiting, I had to recognize that I am not a dramatic type in my dressing, that my job involves unloading trucks and being spat up on by children and therefore won't accomodate Italian silks, that I am too pink to wear that much beige, and that it therefore would not be the right thing for me. I think it will be perfect for #2 daughter. I am still waiting for my print to come. (You will only find that mildly amusing if you have seen Disney's Snow White. And remember the songs.) Okay, I have descended to dumb puns, so it is clearly time for this to end.

This spring, I have driven to and from Kansas City seven times. Every time, I follow the advice of my agoraphobia book and pay close attention to all the scary parts, and notice how the majority of the experience is not scary, and notice my physical reactions to the scary bits and how they are not actually intolerable. I always think to myself that I will write about it when I get home so that the next time, I will be able to go back to the description and see that it simply is not that bad. That way, I think, I will not suffer all that anticipatory anxiety and it will be part of improving my coping with agoraphobia, and not part of thinking, "I will never go on a freeway again."

When I get home, though, what I actually do is think "That's over. I lived through it. I don't have to think about it any more."

So now, having recuperated, I am going to put down the fact that on this last trip -- when, admittedly, I was a passenger and not the driver, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been -- there were lots of pleasant bits. There were miles and miles when I could say to myself, "This is not a scary road. There are no scary roads coming up in the near future."

And you know, if you could bottle the scent of rural Southern Missouri in late spring, you would have a major hit on your hands.

The problem is that almost as soon as I would think, "not scary," the unreasonable phobic part of my brain would say, "Ah, but this time it isn't just that overpass in Joplin and the little bit of freeway in Independence. And the bridge. This time you're going to the airport. You don't know what kind of terrifying roads there may be" and spoil all possible enjoyment of the scenery. Not that there is a whole lot of scenery, but what there is -- and it is worth smelling if not looking at -- is ruined by nausea and panic. Even though I follow the other piece of advice from the book and remind myself that many people pay good money to be scared to the point of nausea, on roller coasters and in movie theaters. I try to experience it as thrilling. It hasn't worked yet, but maybe next time.

One of the first things you do in the Overcoming Agoraphobia program is check to see what the chances are that a healthy person will actually die from fear. They are very small, as it happens. This was good news for me, because before I looked into this, I truly did feel that it was a real possibility that I would die from terror while driving on some scary road.

Not to mention having to stay in Joplin for the rest of my life because I simply would be unable to drive across the overpass.

The thing about my fears on this subject is that they are off the Scorn Scale.

You know about the Scorn Scale, though you may not be familiar with the term.

One very obvious example of the Scorn Scale is intelligence. You may admire really smart people, and you may feel scornful of really dim people, but people with an actual mental disability are off the Scorn Scale, and you cannot look down on them.

You might, if you are less successful in material terms than your friends, feel sorry for yourself or wory that they are looking down on you. However, if you are destitute and homeless, then you are off the Scorn Scale.

If Mr. Bush is incapable of speaking coherently because he has a neurological problem, then the sort of fun that we have with Bushisms (and if you think they are funny, check out the book I am currently reading, Bush-whacked), would be most unseemly and we would have to quit it immediately.

Just so, a coward -- someone who won't stand up to a bully, and gets silly over spiders, and that sort of thing -- invites scorn. But someone like me, normally a reasonably brave person, who has an uncontrollable phobic reaction to a certain thing, well, you simply cannot look down on me for it. This does not prevent my kids from doing so. My sons' hilarity while I am spending my 57 seconds of torment on exit 11A is something to behold. I am saying to myself "Don't stop driving, Don't stop driving" and my boys are laughing and taunting me.

I guess, if I have to have a mental disorder, then it is fortunate that I should have a really humorous one.

Here we have a sleeve and a third. This is, for any knitter who happens by, Jasmine from Elsebeth Lavold's Summer Breeze collection, in Endless Summer's Luna, color Regal Orchid.

This is definitely the home stretch. Soon there will be a finished sweater winging its way to the West Coast.

Very exciting.