Lately, I’m finding economics endlessly fascinating. No, really.

Maybe it’s because I never took a course on it in college, and so never had to memorize index funds and complicated formulas, but “The Financial Page” is quickly becoming one of my favorite sections in the New Yorker magazine. (Here’s a puzzle for them: why do they publish every week when they know that everyone has at least two unread New Yorkers sitting in a pile somewhere at any given time?)

On Slate, I head straight for Tim Harford’s pieces on finding economics in action outside of Wall Street, in which he calls himself “The Undercover Economist.” So I was excited to find that he’s recently written a book with the same title, made just for mathematically-disinterested econ amateurs like me!

I just finished reading it, and I must recommend it to pretty much anyone, except maybe for econ people who already know what they’re talking about when they discuss free trade or why coffee at Starbucks costs so much while coffee growers are paid so little. Harford even almost makes a convincing case of letting economists run the world—maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad idea if people were inherently rational beings.

In any case, Harford is great at explaining the economics behind everyday human interactions, as well as basic questions about the world: why are some poor countries getting much richer than others, why is traffic so terrible in some cities, and why do I buy the most expensive drink on the menu at Starbucks? (He spends a lot of time on Starbucks, and I spend a lot of time in Starbucks.)

So kudos to Tim Harford. Thanks to him, pop economics is quickly becoming the new pop science!

I have been blown away by the amazingly inventive twists and interpretations that knitters have given to Mochimochi Land patterns. Here are a few that I’ve noticed (and loved!) recently:

A rarely seen one-horned Hrumph cleverly made by wordgirrl.

An awesomely textured Bob made by FillyjonkKnitter.

This special black police gun was made by ax174 as a (modified) test of Luvgun. (This much-anticipated pattern is coming soon to the shop!)

babard04 made this husband-and-wife couple “interpreted” as Grass for a most unique wedding gift!!

If you have any toys made from Mochimochi Land patterns that you’d like to share with the world, please put them on the Mochimochi Friends group on Flickr!

This is Puffy. Puffy spends all his time tainting rivers and causing asthma, but he hopes you won’t hold it against him. He comes in a variety of colors and smells, so collect them all!

Isn’t pollution adorable? It’s like, “Hey! Lookit me, being unsightly and unhealthy all over the place—aren’t I just the little scamp?”

Ha ha, yes you are, pollution. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Just check out these unhappy clouds of pollution (CO2?) from plush toy artist BYTEDUST (aka Dennis Douven):

Or the “Greedy Gas Guzzlers” series of sculptures by Matt Campbell:

I love the way his plastic clouds are so billowy-looking.

Which brings me to my most recent little knitted toy, which will be polluting nuclear chimneys! My first prototype looks kind of like a worm crawling out of a clay pot, so I won’t be sharing a photo of it until it looks more like what I’m imagining. But the nuclear power plant from The Simpsons is one of my inspirations.

By the way, I realize that nuclear cooling towers are not actually spewing pollution up into the air. The idea is that it’s an iconic image that might work well as a knitted toy. (I hope!)