There ARE things besides gnomes that make me happy

Believe it or not! This little teapot, for instance. It was found for $6 at Village Merchants and called to me. It may look like an inanimate object to the untrained eye, but I saw it wink at me from the shelf.

I know, I don't drink tea. I bought it specially for the tea cozy I've been wanting to knit. In the winter I do drink hot chocolate and I think this will be a fun tradition to start. (Not to say that you shouldn't still get one for me for Christmas, Mom! The request still stands.)

This random stripe generator from Biscuits and Jam is something else that makes me extremely happy these days. I bought the yarn for the second ripple afghan I've been wanting to make and fooled around generating pattern after pattern until I found just the right one. Now I have a strong urge to make a hot water bottle cover - maybe I was born in the wrong century - or maybe I can sit in my armchair in the evenings and knit for fun what women in years past had to knit out of necessity. How lucky we are.