10.30.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:34 am by Administrator
I know this is an unusual blog post, but since my computer hard drive crashed and I lost a lot of my email contacts, there are some people who I don’t know how to reach other than hoping you see my post here.
Vijay and Bindu, there is a woman who I think would like to get in touch with you, so please email me at your convenience so I can forward your email to her, OR I can forward her email address to you. My email address is still the same.
Thanks so much! And hope things are continuing to go well with you!
Marlakins
Permalink
10.29.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:39 pm by Administrator
If all goes well, we’re hoping to take a trip in a few months, so I’ve been eyeballing what the currency exchange rates are trending particularly in light of the financial meltdown the news has been hammering away at us. Since in the grand scheme of the financial industry is concerned, I’m a bonafide peon, I’m hoping we don’t feel the pinch much. However, this has deepened my belief that peons like myself generally have no say in what the government decides to do. I suppose technically our representatives should represent us, but I really wonder if they truly represent us. Anyway, I have found some interesting videos regarding the recent bailout, which shows me that maybe there are some advocates out there trying to stick up for us, after all.
And here’s another one.
This made me wonder how the representatives in my area voted. I found an article titled L.A. Land by the L.A Times that had a short list. it’s interesting to see how each representative voted in view of their party affiliation. Interesting that there are no third party representatives listed. I’ve clipped that list and posted in below:
“Below is the entire delegation from Los Angeles County, and how they voted on the first bailout vote, and the second bailout vote.
22nd Congressional District
Lancaster; Republican Kevin McCarthy voted no and no.
25th Congressional District
Lancaster; Republican Howard McKeon voted yes and yes.
26th Congressional District
Altadena, East Pasadena, La Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta; Republican David Dreier voted yes and yes.
27th Congressional District
Burbank, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Winnetka; Democrat Brad Sherman voted no and no.
28th Congressional District
Encino, Pacoima,Toluca Lake, Valley Village, Universal City; Democrat Howard Berman voted yes and yes.
29th Congressional District
Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena; Democrat Adam Schiff voted no and yes. Schiff switched.
30th Congressional District
Agoura Hills, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica; Democrat Henry Waxman voted yes and yes.
31st Congressional District
Los Angeles; Democrat Xavier Becerra voted no and no.
32nd Congressional District
Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte; Democrat Hilda Solis voted no and yes. Solis switched.
33rd Congressional District
Culver City, Ladera Heights, View Park-Windsor Hills; Democrat Diane Watson voted no and yes. Watson switched.
34th Congressional District
Bell, Bellflower, Bell Gardens, Commerce; Democrat Lucille Roybal-Allard voted no and no.
35th Congressional District
Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Los Angeles (South Central); Democrat Maxine Waters voted yes and yes.
36th Congressional District
El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance; Democrat Jane Harman voted yes and yes.
37th Congressional District
Carson, Compton, Long Beach; Democrat Laura Richardson voted yes and yes.
38th Congressional District
Industry, La Puente, Montebello, Norwalk, Pomona; Democrat Grace Napolitano voted no and no.
39th Congressional District
Artesia, Cerritos, Lakewood, La Mirada, Whittier; Democrat Linda Sanchez voted no and no.
42nd Congressional District
Diamond Bar, Whittier, Rowland Heights; Republican Gary Miller voted yes and yes.
46th Congressional District
Part of San Pedro. Republican Dana Rohrabacher voted no and no.
–Peter Viles
Well, I appreciate that list by Peter Viles. I suppose all we can do now is to wait and see how this all pans out. Was it a good idea or a bad one? Maybe by the next Presidential election we’ll have a clearer answer.
Marlakins
Permalink
10.28.08
Posted in Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting, quilting at 5:42 pm by Administrator
I finally finished a couple projects I’ve been sweating over. These are going to be for my sister’s roommate. She’s going to have a baby this December, but her baby shower in going to be in a couple weeks. I’ve got a few projects lined up, and I thought these projects were going to take me longer to finish, so I’ve been working on them each day, and viola! I finished today. Such a relief to have these finished early. Here’s the quilt after I got the patchwork done, and the quilting started.
And here’s what it looks like today. My sewing machine needs servicing, so all the quilting had to be done by hand. I’m not the greatest quilter, but with practice I should get better. I hope. . .
I designed this myself, but was inspired by some Amish quilts I saw when we visited Lancaster, Pennsylvania many years ago. The Amish and the Mennonites make such fabulous quilts. I had to give it a try. I’ve already put together a few more patchwork tops, but have yet to put the batting and the backing together on those, but will post those once I finish them. With all the projects I’ve line up for myself, I likely won’t get to those quilts until next year. But I was looking at them last night and was inspired to finish them because I think they actually look pretty decent. Nice to see them with a fresh set of eyes and still think they look okay. Course it could just be my personal taste. . .
Alright so here’s a set of baby socks and a few hats I knit for my sister’s roommate, too. Gotta keep him warm when he pops into this world!
If I have time, I might knit up a little bunny for her, too . I saw this really cute knitted bunny with a free pattern online. You can see what it looks like here. The instructions look super simple, too, and I think it’s very small bunny.
Okay, better get dinner on.
Marlakins
Permalink
10.26.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:54 pm by Administrator
It’s a bit depressing at times to read all this stuff about conspiracy theories, or about us moving towards a one-world government (not to mention that I’ve read that both Obama and McCain are CRF members), or how we’re continually losing our rights (i.e. the Patriot Act and such). I’ve even read some claims that this current financial meltdown was planned so that we could usher in a one-world currency. So rather than drown in this depressing stuff, I try to remind myself that there still is a lot of good in life. But right when I start to believe it, Maxine weighs in to remind me that maybe we’ve reached a point of no return. . .
Okay, okay, lest I be branded a whiner, sure I realize that America is one of the better places to live. And fortunately, I’m a peon living on a peaceful side of the world and hopefully I can continue to live my life peacefully. But that doesn’t mean I have to ignore the injustices committed in exchange for our comforts. At the very least I should acknowledge it and not turn my eye away from the many other unfortunate families suffering in war torn countries. I wouldn’t want to be like Esau who exchanged his birthright for a bowl of soup, or in our case, exchange our souls for a bit of comfort. It’s hard at times to just sit back and say nothing even though I know that at this point is there anything we can really do to stop the train, anyway? Things are being passed behind our backs at increasing rates such as fluoridating our water supply, not labeling additives in our foods, and even tagging cattle, which has resulted in a recent lawsuit filed just this Sept 2008 by the Amish against the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Michigan Department of Agriculture. Apparently it is a requirement to implant radio frequency identification chips (RFID) into cattle supposedly for the purpose of being able to track diseases in the animals (and in Mexico I read that it is becoming common to chip children for kidnapping protection). However, the Amish are resisting this as they feel that the RFID chips may represent “the mark of the beast” as described in the book of Revelation. I have read that some Amish farmers have already sold off their cattle rather than comply with chipping them. Cripes, I don’t blame them, but this is another example of losing freedom here in the U.S. I don’t see why they can’t compromise with the Amish and label their meat as “Amish” meat, so that it would be left up to the consumer to decide if they wanted to chance eating that meat. I would actually trust Amish meat more than regular feed lot cattle meat, anyway. Or maybe that’s the problem? Hmmm. For more info on this, here’s a link with a bit more explanation and another link here. Times are moving fast. How will we fare?
Marlakins
Permalink
10.24.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:22 pm by Administrator
A couple weeks ago my hard drive crashed, but since my boys each have a computer I didn’t feel cut off from the internet as all I had to do was push one of them over for a few minutes, heheh. So I still had access to new emails coming in and have been operating business as usual checking in on my usual websites. However, I’m only now starting realize the extent of my loss. As I start to search for things, I realize I lost so much stuff as a result of my hard drive crashing. Luckily, I’ve been getting some emails from friends, so at least my email contacts list is being reconstructed. However, aside from that, I lost a great deal of notes and letters that I have been storing up throughout the “years.” Information on health, and blood, and emails of others updating me on their health status, and other notes I’ve gleaned from books and news articles are all gone. . . I think I backed up my computer about two years ago, but still have yet to find that disc, but even so, I would still be missing two years worth of stuff that I’ve saved, wah. Oh well, until I find that backup disc, I’ll have to start from scratch.
For this post I wanted to write about an article I read on the net a couple weeks or so ago, but alas since my computer hard drive crashed, I don’t have the link anymore to the article, and I can’t seem to locate the article through Google, hmmm. So I’ll try to recap what the article was about. I had been searching for information on Ahmadinejad and Zionism when I stumbled across the article (I don’t even remember the title of the article). I think it was written a couple years ago or more regarding the uproar that was created when the news reported that Ahmadinejad called the Jewish Holocaust a “myth.” Here’s the full quote per WashingtonPost.com’s article entitled, Iran’s President Calls Holocaust ‘Myth’ in Latest Assault on Jews
“They have created a myth in the name of the Holocaust and consider it above God, religion and the prophets,” Ahmadinejad said in an address carried live on state television.
Claiming that the Holocaust was a myth had the media in an uproar, but the “whole” of Ahmadinejad’s statement was not highlighted. The whole of the statement was the thrust of the article I can not find! Grrr. That article pointed out that Ahmadinejad made a very profound statement wherein he was essentially saying that the Western world has elevated the Holocaust and Zionism to a higher level than Christianity and any other religion. Now that’s a big paraphrase, but it’s the gist. To support his position he wrote that in certain countries such as in Germany, it is against the law to deny the Holocaust, and people (such as Dr. Toben at the Heathrow Airport) have actually gone to jail for it. According to Wikipedia, “Holocaust denial is explicitly or implicitly illegal in 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland.” While on the other hand, there are many books written against Islam and other writings stating that Jesus was a fraud or that the Bible is full of errors and just a myth, yet there is no law against that, and the media actually embraces those who question the validity of Christ and the Bible. One fairly recent example is the DaVinci Code popularized in a movie directed by Ron Howard starring Tom Hanks, and Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion. Books like those are blasphemous, but there is no law anywhere prohibiting it, much less anyone being thrown in jail for it. To the contrary, the authors are invited as guest speakers at talk shows and news interviews. Yet, just to deny the holocaust is punishable with jail time. Why is holocaust denial worse than denying Christ?
While I do think Ahmadinejad rashly claimed the holocaust to be a myth, I think Ahmadinejad was right to ask for more studies on the Holocaust, not because it didn’t happen, but to know more about it. The world, particularly the middle east, has been greatly affected as a result of the holocaust, so naturally they would like to examine it further. The reaction Ahmadinejad got I do find interesting in that there are certain subjects that are very touchy to bring up because others jump on them like crazy just at the “questions.” Another such taboo is to question the 9/11 incident. While viewing some of Jesse Ventura’s interviews, he brought up the Twin Towers anomalies. And again, just to “question” the 9/11 incident generates accusations that if you don’t believe in the official explanations of 9/11, then you’re a conspiracy theory nut. Certain subjects are so charged that some people don’t even want to hear or discuss any other possibility. Essentially they would like to silence any opposition. This “fear of questioning” can be dangerous to freedom of speech.
Apparently, freedom of speech is already in danger as a result of the Federal Hate Crimes Legislation. While technically, if there was no physical violence committed, then one can say anything he liked, however Rev. Ted Pike’s outreach helped publicized internationally the arrest and imprisonment of 11 Christians in Philadelphia on October 10, 2004. They were threatened with 47 years in prison for the “hate crime” of publicly witnessing to homosexuals. According to Rev. Pike’s biography, “he is also the primary national opponent to federal hate crimes legislation, proposed by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. He and his National Prayer Network have played a pivotal role in defeating such legislation the last four times it has been introduced in Congress.” In addressing this very important issue of freedom of speech, Rev. Pike writes, “Should Ahmadinejad Have Free Speech?“ In that article he addresses why he feels that people should be able to speak freely, no matter who they are or what they think. Here’s a short excerpt from his article using one example from scripture to support his belief.
“Are some people so evil they should be denied freedom to speak in the international arena? Almost every evangelical lover of Israel says “Yes!” and believes Ahmadinejad is one of them.
“But does God endorse their opinion? What if we could ask God what He thinks of banning speech, even for those considered exceptionally evil?
“God reveals His point of view in the Biblical book of Job. There we find Satan in the presence of a holy God, free to express any evil or malicious idea (short of reviling God to His face). In this ancient inspired Scripture, God taunts Satan that He enjoys the complete loyalty of a perfect man, Job. Satan audaciously boasts that he can make Job curse his Creator. The wager is laid between God’s power to redeem and Satan’s ability to demoralize and destroy. Job is steadfast. God wins, despite staggering demonic persecution of Job. Through one man’s life, God created an eternal testimony to those who trust in Him: although it may seem that He has forsaken us, He is very near and will everlastingly reward.
“Could God’s faithfulness have been so established if He had not first allowed free speech to Satan? It couldn’t. Having created us free will beings, God warns that the wages of sin is death. Yet He defers judgment for periods short or long, respecting our freedom to speak lies if we wish. He may be very angry at what we say, yet He always allows free will and resultant free speech.”
Rev. Pike goes on to discuss what the founding fathers of the U.S. thought about freedom of speech, and in conclusion Pike writes:
“The Founding Father’s endorsement of revolution, if necessary, also implies that whatever inflammatory speech is required to incite such overthrow should be allowed. “
My final thought for tonight regarding freedom of speech is the information with which our current mainstream media is inundating us. With the current Presidential election, it can be irritating to read the lies, half-truths, and misleading statements promulgated by our media outlets. I know some people wish they would just stop. But those lies, half-truths, and misleading statments are not the worst of it. The worst of it is the censorship, the stuff that we “don’t hear.” The stuff that we are “prevented” from hearing. And the reason why there is so much happening in other countries that the U.S. is involved in that we don’t even know about. We aren’t allowed to know about. I shuddered when during the third Presidential debate between Obama and McCain, McCain stated in passing that, “We will be hearing the names of places that we never heard before.” What did he mean by that? What else is the U.S. involved in or are going to be involved in?
Marlakins
Permalink
10.23.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:12 am by Administrator
I was only very slightly familiar with Jesse Ventura from his wrestling days, so found it interesting to learn that he is an Independent and a member of the Reform Party. That made me more curious to learn about him, so I checked out some YouTube videos on him. Apparently he was Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota and Governor of Minnesota. He was also a U.S. Navy SEAL and served in Southeast Asia for about 17 months before his wrestling days. Well, I’ve got to hand it to Jesse Ventura, he has made some good points in the several interviews I’ve watched of him. Too bad he isn’t on the current presidential ticket because I would seriously consider voting for him since from what I’ve heard him say so far, I think he makes a lot of sense. “Our two-party system,” says Jesse, “is like choosing Coke or Pepsi.” Basically, the Republicans and Democrats are cut from the same cloth, and we really have no choice. And to top it off, too many chicken hawks are running the show.
Marlakins
Permalink
10.21.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:00 am by Administrator
One of the most important rights we have as Americans is the “freedom of speech.” And since today we still enjoy that freedom (however with the way this country is going, who knows how long that freedom will last), I’m gonna post some interesting videos I watched recently. This first video shows one question given to both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin along wth their responses.
I appreciate how Joe Biden understands and respects the importance of limiting power in government. That is something I think Sarah Palin has not fully grasped, yet. One example of why I think this is the recent news stating that, “Sarah Palin says she supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a break with John McCain, who has said he believes states should be left to define what marriage is.” This was reported in the Seattle Times on Oct 21, 2008 in an article titled Palin Supports Ban on Gay Marriage. If I’m understanding that correctly, then she is proposing a federal ban on gay marriages as opposed to state bans. While as a Christian, I too do not approve of gay marriages, banning gay marriages on a federal level is using too much power that can turn around and work against us. For instance, if the ban does pass and becomes a federal law and if for any reason that law is “overturned” (as I’m sure it will eventually be challenged), then gay marriages will become legal in “all” of the U.S., not just at the state level. As it stands, if the states are allowed to decide, then if you don’t like the ruling, you can always move to another state which favors your position. That would not be possible if a federal ban on gay marriages were overturned. What the above video does for me is to magnify another reason why I think Palin is not ready to be a Vice President, much less President. I don’t think she has given these types of issues much thought.
Another video I watched that just adds a little more insight regarding how some others view Dick Cheney is this video which shows some comments from Jesse Ventura who is neither Republican or Democrat.
Now this reminds me of how some people claim that if you aren’t in favor of the war, then you don’t support our troops. That is such fallacious thinking. We support our troops, but only want them to fight in wars that are “just.” Sending our troops out in harms way for a war that is not just is “not” supporting our troops. It is being careless and foolish with the lives our people and those of the people we fight against. There are several reasons why many people today do not approve of the current wars and why they want the troops home immediately. One example of some of the problems our troops are having can be seen in this video. Very insightful personal story of what Mike Prysners’ role was in Iraq as a U.S. Soldier.
And finally, I didn’t see John Kerry’s speech at the Democratic National Convention until just last night, but boy, I didn’t realize what a good speaker he is. Now I wonder what it would have been like had he been elected President four years ago.
Perhaps I appreciate Kerry’s speech because of my position on the war and on nuclear power. But when all is said and done, neither one of our present candidates will completely withdraw our troops anytime in the near future. It’s obvious McCain won’t, and Obama apparently, wants to just “relocate” some to Afghanistan, while still leaving some in Iraq. How can I vote for either one of them when I don’t agree with them? Thank God, we have the right here in the United States to “not” vote if we choose not to. AND thank God that choosing not to vote in the U.S. doesn’t nullify my rights to anything else.
Marlakins
Permalink
10.20.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:33 am by Administrator
Okay, now THIS IS SCARY! Howard Stearn (and no, I’m *not* a Howard Stearn fan) played a short interview with people who are voting for Obama, but found that they didn’t even know the difference between the issues Obama stood for vs. McCain. They didn’t even know that Palin is McCain’s running mate! People like this really should “not” be voting! And maybe this says something about how we choose our Presidents, since I bet there are voters like this who also champion McCain. This is a stark example of how it doesn’t matter what these candidates say, not only because they likely will not keep all their promises, but because a lot of people don’t even understand them. . .
Brian has always told me not to be surprised that many people don’t know a lot of basic things, but geez, this has left me speechless. . .
Marlakins
Permalink
10.17.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:55 pm by Administrator
Okay, I’ve been biting my lip recently reading all the news and watching the campaign speeches and debates. For a person who usually doesn’t pay much attention to politics, Brian says that I’ve been spending too much time reading and listening to all this crap. But I can’t help it, it has been so annoying to watch, so I’m gonna rant for a bit because the recent campaigning has reminded me so much of George Orwell’s 1984 when words have lost their meaning. In particular in the recent campaigns I find that the word “socialism” is being severely misused, and it appears that the Republican party is playing on our ignorance of what socialism is to try to regain the upper hand.
I think it’s safe to say that the Republican party likes to tout that they are Capitalist, as opposed to Communist or Socialist. However, truthfully it is a mistake to say that Capitalism is on the opposite political spectrum with Socialism since Socialism is a FORM of Capitalism just as Communism also is a form of Capitalism. There is “no” Capitalism as a political system. Capitalism is an economic system used by Socialists, Communists, and Free Market proponents. Both Socialism and Communism require capitalism (money). All the political systems are Capitalist. The difference comes with “who” owns and controls that “capital” in each of these systems. Does the government own everything and capital (i.e. Communism) or do the people own their property and capital (free market). In Communism, the government owns property AND capital, whereas as in a fascist state (a type of socialism such as in Nazi Germany where they used Capitalism to drive their Socialism) the people own property and their business, BUT the government controls and distributes part of the capital (i.e. taxes). What I think many people don’t understand is that what we really need to be focusing on here is not Capitalism vs Socialism, but Socialism vs. Free Market. The U.S. is already “Socialist” although many mistakenly think we are “only” Capitalist. We have many, many government “social” services that are provided through heavily taxing the citizens. Examples of those socialist services are medicare, social security, police protection, firemen protection, wild life and natural resource preservation, library services, public schooling, museums, all sort of scientific research, humanitarian relief, all of the U.S. armed forces, etc. The U.S. already operates by A FORM OF SOCIAL CAPITALISM. And so it makes me groan when I hear McCain and Palin pointing the finger at the Democrats that “spreading the wealth” is socialist as if our country is not already socialist. That is playing on our ignorance, and very, very annoying to me.
The “economic” system we have here in the U.S. is a Socialist form of Capitalism. For the Republican party to insinuate that “spreading the wealth” is socialist is true, however “spreading the wealth” is also a capitalist concept. So misleading! Large corporations today (which many consider erroneously are a result “solely” of Capitalism) would not be able to exist without government support (Socialism). The government provides the means for large corporations to protect individuals running the corporation from loss by allowing the corporation to act as an individual. The government also subsidizes many large corporations and provides incentives and tax breaks to help them exist. As an example, in some businesses (in particular farming) the books are often in the red, so the government subsidizes (using money collected from taxes) them so that they can continue to operate. This in turn helps large corporations provide more jobs (spreading the wealth). As these corporations grow, other branches and subsidiaries are formed under the umbrella of the corporation so that eventually these corporations are able to control a great deal of people in many areas of work. One can quickly see that there is a lot of government involvement with corporations, so large corporations are not solely Capitalistic enterprises, but rather benefit from Socialistic practices.
The large corporations want the control (like government) and lobby for laws which make it difficult for small businesses to compete with them. And yet, the Republican party tends to protect the large corporations by providing them tax breaks and incentives all in the name of “Capitalism” so that those of us who have a hazy understanding of what Socialism and Capitalism are are hoodwinked into thinking that large corporations are a sole result of America’s free market. Volkswagon was a large “German” corporation which operated under Fascist Germany. Conrad Schlumberger, the founder of Schlumberger Limited, the largest oil service corporation in the “world” was an ardent socialist. Another example is Armand Hammer, who according to Wiki, “was a flamboyant US business tycoon most closely associated with Occidental Petroleum, a company he ran for decades, though he was known as well as for his art collection, his philanthropy, and for his close ties to the Soviet Union.” The list goes on of wealthy tycoons (who we would ordinarily think of as Capitalists) linked to socialism.
So please, I can’t stand it anymore watching McCain and Palin drivel that those terrible Democrats are socialist because “they” want to “spread the wealth.” Meanwhile, they (McCain and Palin) want to “protect” and “support” large corporations (tycoons) who “also spread the wealth” under their (quasi government) corporations, which would not be able to exist in the first place without government. Are they dumb or what? Or perhaps they “know” that many of us are dumb regarding our understanding of what is socialism and what is “free market.” And so they play with these words that give us that Pavlovian response when we hear words like “s-o-c-i-a-l-i-s-m.” This is an example of why I hate politics and why I think politicians are known to be dishonest. And also why I think both the Republican party and Democratic party are fingers from the same hand.
Okay, so now that I’ve got that off my chest, is “spreading the wealth” a good thing? In my opinion, it is only good if it is done “willfully,” and not by force. I do know that there are people who would willingly pay higher taxes if they felt it would benefit his fellow man, so for them raising taxes isn’t a big deal. The idea of “spreading the wealth,” in and of itself, is not evil, as far as I see. It’s the will or lack of it that makes all the difference, I think. We should be given the choice of “where” and on “what” we spread our wealth. Another thought is that a flat tax across the board to me sounds like it would be the most fair, but neither party is offering that.
Marlakins
George Orwell, by the way, was also a socialist, but mostly remembered for the all seeing eye of “Big Brother.”
Permalink
10.11.08
Posted in Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 9:57 pm by Administrator
Today in LA was a bit chilly. Actually almost brrr weather considering how hot it’s been lately. So it feels timely to share that I just finished the three EZ BSJ’s that my mom wanted. The first one I made as a test run got snatched up by my sister. One of her friends, who happened to also be one of my red blood donors, recently had a baby. When my my sister showed my mom the sweater, my mom asked me to make her three–one for a girl, a boy, and one unisex. My mom belongs to a church that seems to have a baby factory, heheh. I’m starting to lose track of how many baby and toddler items she’s asked me to knit up for her. Anyway, here’s what the three jackets looked like just after I finished knitting them up.
And just to show how they’re folded to make jackets, here’s one side folded over.
And the finished sweaters complete with buttons. . .
I’m finding that part of the fun of making these kid jackets are picking out the buttons. I went to a button store yesterday, but boy were those buttons expensive! Can you say $4 to $8 a button? Oye. . . Not for these acrylic things. . . So today I settled for International Silks and Woolens where they have a respectable selection of buttons friendly to my meager budget. I got the buttons for my first EZ BSJ there. Those buttons were cute enough and also reasonably priced. Here’s a close up of the buttons.
These buttons were hand painted and only $1 per button. Each sweater uses five buttons.
These were also hand-painted and only $1 each, too.
This one took me a little longer to pick out because all the buttons that I thought matched okay with this sweater made it look girlie. I wanted it to have a little more of a boy look, so I picked out these, which are somewhat plain, but still a little different from the usual. These cost a bit more, though, at $2.25 per button. I prefer the $1 button prices, especially since these sweaters are only made of acrylic, but they were doable. My mom asked me to make these in acrylic so that they could be easily washed.
So another project done! Not bad considering I finished up the knitting while watching the Presidential debate. I’m currently working on a set of baby socks for someone I know who is having a baby this December. Oh boy, oh boy! Yes, it’s a boy, too, heheh. Maybe I’ll put up a pic of those socks once they’re completed. I also started back to work on an old patchwork quilt that I started many moons ago. Will I ever finish it? Who knows. But for sure if I do finished it, it will appear on this blog, heheh.
And that’s it for now.
Marlakins 
Permalink
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »
