Never pass up the chance to make a thing of beauty out of something mundane. It’s one of the secrets of happiness if you ask me. Take, for example, the humble dish towel. Why need they be drab? I found myself in need of a couple, so instead of buying some run-of-the-mill factory made ones, I decided to buy myself some cheerful (and cheap!) cotton yarn and knit my own. For the one pictured at left, I used Vogue Knitting’s embossed vine and leaves pattern (free online here) and the other is a simple stripe using three colors and super easy stitch patterns: garter, moss and seed. The yarn cost me less than $4, and the effect these cheery towels have on my mood when I dry my wet mugs is priceless. Now that I’ve seen what a little splash of color can do, I think I might have to knit myself a pair of cafe curtain panels to match!