Knit one: Forget therapy or drowning your sorrows, Monica Lewinsky says knitting saved her from going to pieces after her affair with Bill Clinton caused a scandal. Now Miss Lewinsky has became such a prolific knitter that she is selling handbags and knitting bags online.

By visiting therealmonicainc.com fans can order bags made by Miss Lewinsky which feature ethnic designs in a range of colours. Buyers are then invited to send in photographs of themselves clutching their gifts. But these personalised goodies don't come cheap. Most purses range in price from £70 to £140.

Monica decided to turn to knitting in a bid to be creative, when she felt bad about the world talking about her affair. As she got more obsessed by her hobby she created a knitting bag to carry her wool in and it is this that caught her friends' eyes. They asked for replicas and now Monica is willing to make a personal bag for anyone who will pay up. If the publicity all gets too much for her again she can whip out her needles and knit a balaclava to hide her embarrassment.

Suits you: Decent tailoring is hard to come by these days. Most men's shops sell suits, but after a few trips to the dry cleaners they start going shiny. Such things are no problem for the customers at James and James tailors in London's Saville Row. The shop has recently put on display a totally hand-stitched suit costing a staggering £20,000. The single-breasted, navy blue pinstripe two piece was created by Yvonne Nichol, who has worked at the company for 50 years. She sewed each one of the 250,000 stitches in the suit by hand, using six different types of stitch. Amazingly, Ms Nichol made more than one of the suits and four have actually been sold, with the remaining sample on display in London. The suit may cost 100 times more than the average one from the High Street, but it would certainly make a big impression on any man who tried it on.

Dressing down: Every year the Oscars throw up all sorts of weird and wonderful outfits to set off the hysterical speeches and OTT back-slapping. This year was no different, with one woman standing out for her bizarre dress sense.

Icelandic singer Bjork decided to wrap herself in a swan, complete with winding neck and yellow beak. Bjork may be known as an eccentric but turning a bird into a dress is extreme, even by her standards. To make herself look even more ridiculous, she 'laid an egg' on the red carpet as she walked into the ceremony! There's nothing wrong with individual style but if you can't do sophisticated you don't have to go to the opposite extreme.

Computer world: Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokeman may be cute computer characters, but there is a more threatening side to the hi-tech revolution. A company called Electronics Arts has launched an online computer game that threatens to take over players' lives. Majestic, which has just been launched in America, claims to immerse players in a real-time conspiracy plot. The game is said to be so invasive it even wakes players in the middle of the night with phone calls. Instead of players being in charge of the game, Majestic plays you and takes over your everyday life. Majestic uses streaming video and audio, e-mail, instant messaging and faxes to bombard players with information and plot twists, 24 hours a day. It's then up to the player to work out what's going on and how to solve the plot.

A UK version of the game is unfortunately in the pipeline. All those kids who sit square-eyed at their computer screens will now have their whole lives taken over by games - sounds very scary indeed.