What is a PLIPPET?
A small crocheted animal, made one at a time by hand, and given to somebody who was not expecting one. There is no shop and no price. If you are holding one, it was meant for you.
The tag it came with
Every one leaves with a small tag, and the seven characters printed on it belong to that creature and no other. Type them in and you land on its own page: which animal it is, the collection it was made in, the yarn it is made of, and everywhere it has been since.
You do not need an account to read any of that. Nobody does.
If one has reached you
There is a second code under the tag, and it is the part only somebody actually holding the object can see. It is how the page knows you have it rather than merely read about it.
Then you can give it a name, add a photograph of somewhere it has been, and say when you have met one that belongs to somebody else.
Yours to keep
A PLIPPET is a gift, and it is yours to keep. Give it a spot on a shelf or a bag to ride around in, and a name if you like. It is very happy to stay with you for good.
If a day comes when you would really rather not have it, please don't let it end up at the back of a drawer. Pass it on to someone who will look after it. Its page carries on from there, with your part of the story still in it and the next person's starting underneath.
It started in a staff room
Christine works at a tourist attraction in Canada, and every year she crochets a few hundred small animals and gives one to each of her colleagues. That is where all of this comes from — not a plan, just a lot of them, made one at a time over a lot of evenings.
Then it spread past the staff room. The cabin crew on the way to a holiday, and the crew on the way back. A cashier at the supermarket having a long shift. A waiter. Anyone, really, who looked like a small thing might help.
She picks the animal and the yarn for every one, which is why no two are quite alike — and why the yarn each is made of has a page here too.
Questions people ask
Do I have to do anything with it?
No. It is a present, not a task. The tag is there if you want to know where it came from, and nothing at all happens if you never use it.
Do I need an account?
Not to read anything. Its page, its collection, the creature it is, everywhere it has been — all of that is open to anyone. An account is only for the things that are yours to do: saying it has reached you, naming it, adding a moment, and one day handing it on.
The tag will not scan. Now what?
Type the seven characters in instead — they are printed on the tag under the square. The code goes in here.
Can I buy one?
No, and that is the point rather than a shortage. They have never been for sale. They are made to be given to somebody who was not expecting one.
Can I give it a name?
Once you have said it reached you, yes. A person reads a new name before it appears on the page — not to be difficult, but because the page is public and stays that way.
I found one that is not mine. Should I keep it?
Have a look at its page first: if somebody is looking after it, it will say so. You can record that you met it without taking it, which adds your meeting to its story and leaves it where it is.
What happens to my details?
Your username is public, because it is how a page says who is looking after a PLIPPET. Your email address is never shown to anyone. The privacy page says the rest plainly.
Have a look around
The creatures The collections Where they've got to
If your PLIPPET's tag won't scan, you can type its code in instead.
Last updated October 28, 2026