Hook, line and sinker

Remember those ‘cute’ clown faces and butterflies you used to make as a kid with bits of hideously coloured yarn pulled through a canvas grid? Well, they’re back! Get out your latch-hooking tools because this easy-as-paint-by-numbers hobby is now de rigueur once again (not that it ever was, really…). Part of the ‘granny-cool’ trend of knitting, latch-hooking has been revived by a company called wishingfish.com of Santa Monica, Calif. The company is selling latch-hook pillow kits on its Web site with simple designs that anyone can master such as ‘Star,’ ‘Circles,’ ‘Square,’ and ‘Ladybug.’ Easier to learn and less time-consuming than knitting, this ’70s-retro trend is bound to gain momentum, since the design possibilities are endless.

Ladies and germs…

Here’s a way to teach the kids about those nasty germs flying about: micro-organism plushies! The ‘Giant Microbes,’ as they’re called, are stuffed microscopic germs and illnesses blown up to a million times their size. There are ‘maladies,’ which include athlete’s foot and bad breath; ‘health’ toys like stomach ache and sore throat, and coming soon: ‘calamities!’ The plush toys, available from Delaware-based company Giant Microbes, look a bit like those plush animals sold by travelling carnies at sideshows, but in this case, they come with an information leaflet detailing their respective ailments. Educational, cute and fun.