Last night #1 daughter, her fiance, and I went to the rodeo. It was raining, with standing water in the arena, so the whole thing was muddier and more confusing than usual. 

I hadn't been to the rodeo in years, and I really enjoyed it. One of my favorite events was when teams of children had to take a goat to a chosen spot, put a pair of boxer shorts on it, and then return it to the starting point, an event known as "Wild Goat Dressing."

The Grand Entry was also impressive, though you could tell the horses were confused. The riders were trying to keep the horses out of the deepest water, so they weren't following their usual patterns.

The bareback riding was alarming -- it's a wonder those guys don't break their backs -- and there was just a general muddiness to everything that made it seem to come down to a bunch of men and animals wallering in the mud.

Earlier in the day, #1 daughter and I went to the farmers market and to the grocery store, and I sewed this weird garment.

It's supposed to be the Classix Nouveau Dolman Blouse from Hot Patterns, the drawing for which you can see below. It went together very easily, but it has this enormous floppy collar.

As I see it, I have several options with this thing:

• Accept that enormous floppy collars are in style. I looked around online and saw lots, some so enormous and floppy that they drape in folds. 
• Cut and sew the collar much smaller, without taking the garment apart.
• Take the thing apart and see if I can cut another top from the fabric instead of throwing it away.

The fabric is a rayon print in colors which, while they were trendy last season and are certainly bright and cheerful, are not very becoming for me, and this is the kind of print that my daughters specifically forbid me to wear.

It's so soft and cool feeling, though...

The pattern was part of a huge collection of hand me down patterns a friend gave me last year. The appeal of a dolman sleeve is obvious: no set in sleeves. The problem with a dolman sleeve is equally obvious: no shaping.

Even without the collar issue, this might be a bad choice, since there are lots of odd folds. It doesn't look anything like the pattern drawing.

So I guess today after church and a bit of work I will take it apart and see whether I can't get a nice shell out of it.

So far, I've made two each of three patterns for my Summer Top Project. I've liked all three of the other patterns, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I have a few more fabrics left, too.

I'm through teaching for the summer -- now comes the grading. So, apart from client meetings and a conference at the end of the month, I can work every day in jeans and a T shirt if I feel like it. However, I was able, courtesy of the STP, to dress reasonably well throughout summer school and I think I can continue wearing my summer tops happily.

Maybe not the giant floppy collared tropical print thing, though.