Q: I am trying to locate suppliers of de-fuzzers, pill removers, or lint shavers. Can you help? I'd hate to toss aside handmade sweaters and other knit gifts that fuzz and pill.

A: Wouldn't you think if we can send men to the moon we'd be able to come up with some instant magical high-tech sweater-pill-blaster? Not so far. Next best thing may be The Vermont Country Store's Sweater Stone, which is supposed to remove pills when you "stroke" that bumpy sweater with it. They say it's better than "those battery-operated contraptions" -- and I suspect they're right, since those battery-operated contraptions seem to run down their batteries by the time they've de-pilled half a sweater.

Patricia McLaughlin is a nationally syndicated fashion columnist.
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