Beware of Toxic T Shirts

I have been reading all about how your T-Shirt could be toxic! We are talking about those inexpensive T-Shirts that are made out of a polyester blend. I buy these types of T-shirts for my kids to wear all of the time but apparently I might as well hand them a dose of Cancer on a platter. Some of these cheaper polyester t-shirts and polyester blends are so toxic they actually give off fumes.
I now feel like a villain for making my kids wear polyester t-shirts. First of all the manufacturing of this fabiric is really bad for the environment. The material is made from refined petroleum that is instantaneously super heated at 800 degrees Celsius. The fabric is created when a heavy metal such as antimony is added to the mix so that the resulting ethylene turns into goo. The goo that is left over is cooled and becomes fabric. This is what we are wearing against our skin when we wear polyester. It is a creation of heavy metals and petroleum. Do you really want your child's sensitive skin in contact with these types of toxins. They are horribly carcinogenic.
The scary thing about this is that if you sweat you might be leaching out these chemicals into your skin. You might want to think twice before you consider working out in a T-shirt because a Danish study found that as much as ten percent of the chemicals found in a polyester t-shirt might possibly end up on your skin. Just think of how hard yo8ur kids play sometimes. They break into sweats just like we do. They also get caught in the rain. If you wear polyester t-shirts while they are wet you are more likely to leech toxins out toxins onto the skin.
Printed T-shirts are equally toxic. Discharged print ink can also degrade and be absorbed by the skin over time. That is why it is not a good idea to sleep in a polyester or printed ink T-shirt if you can help it.
Natural organic cotton T-shirts are much better choices both for day and night wear. These do not necessarily have to be more expensive. The key is to shop carefully online and look for items that are made out of 100% cotton.
If you want your children to wear the absolutely healthiest clothes possible then you should have them wear unbleached cotton. Stay away from clothes that are dyed.
Another tip is to launder every single item of clothing that you buy for a kid before you have them wear it the first time. This is because you do not know what kind of preservatives, fire guards or other chemicals that have been put on the T-Shirt to protect it.
Some studies have found that chemical bug sprays have been added to shipments of T-shirts from Asia to keep insects like weevils or mothballs off oaf the merchandise.

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The Days of Crochet Toys

When I think back to the good old days I recall that the most popular of baby toys were the ones that were crocheted. We really have not seen much of these around since the seventies. They are hard to find online and it is more difficult than I ever thought to find crocheting patterns so you can stitch up some of your own.
I remember that the patterns for making these toys were quite simple. It was like making a tube sock. You would take the yarn, create the shape in crochet, and then fill the toy with some kind of stuffing like cotton or foam. I remember we use to make little mice and bears with tiny coin shaped crocheted ears out of yarn.
Of course all of these projects were very seventies in look and style. Each row of stitching was a different color. It was also trendy back in the seventies to crochet caps, tops, boots and mitts for all of your dolls and stuffed toys. Many little girls in the seventies had a teddy bear sitting on their bed that was also wearing a crocheted sweater.
I guess they are hard to find because they are a handmade item but I did manage to find them at a very expensive high end online store called Sense of Luxury. You would think that these toys would only cost about ten dollars to make but the mark up on them if you buy them commercially is huge. A single small crocheted mouse or bear can cost anywhere from forty to two hundred bucks online. This is quite exorbitant when you think that many of these high end luxury crocheted toys are probably hot even handmade. They are more than likely created by some kind of knitting machine.
There are some commercial crocheted toys that have become very popular lately. A sought after item on this luxury baby toys website that I looked is the lanky crocheted monkey which is striped in bold colors from head to toe. Also very traditional and popular is the hand crocheted elephant (which is a unisex type toy that is good to give away at a baby shower where you do not know what the sex of the baby is yet.)If you have a baby boy you can also get art deco style crocheted and stuffed airplanes.
You can also get the En Gry and Sif Teddy Bear on this site which comes with its own crocheted booties, sweaters and cap. This is a very sought after collector's item for some toy collectors. The bear also usually comes with a one piece night shirt that it can be put to bed in as well. This is a toy that definitely hearkens back to the nostalgic seventies. Of course because it is so nostalgic it also costs upwards of seventy five bucks to purchase online!

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