Mini madness

Oh dear... it's happening again... and not just reclining socks, which I continued to work on because I seem to have slipped from compulsive reading to compulsive miniseries watching.

Today's title does not refer to that sort of mini, unfortunately. I managed to get my hands on a Filofax mini sized planner this week and I am smitten!

It's so compact and cute... much smaller than the pocket size which I had originally, and which I still think is utterly tiny. 

It's barely 5 inches long! If I were an out-and-about person, like I was when I first started using Filofax planners, I would be in heaven and carrying a very, very small bag. 

Of course I had to make covers for the inside of it immediately, and decorate them.

This particular mini is a Malden, in stone, and Maldens are as terrible for their punchy hard zipper pull as they are delightful for their gorgeous squishy leather. If you don't make a nice card stock cover page - this one is heavy watercolour paper cut to size by me - you get a dent in all your other pages. 

And on the back it's nice to have a separate page to lift all the rest of the content out of the way, to get at whatever you're keeping in the card slot storage area.

I don't like to use the pen loop you can see there on the right. It's far too small, and also, gets in the way of the pages. It's quite convenient for tucking loose cards underneath though, if you have some to stash.

The mini is about the size of a wallet and small-size Maldens come with a billfold at the back. I bought it intending to use it that way but now I'm thinking it might be nicer to carry around as a planner (because I don't already have 8-12 others up on the shelf in my office, and in my stationery cupboard - everybody has at least one of those, right? - and scattered over my desk.)

So: doom, basically. I am once again investing in planners even though I have a system now that I absolutely love and works for me without any compromises. Admittedly, since it is A5 sized and hefty, it would not be fun to carry around to the office and on shopping trips. But since I work at home and never shop long enough to need more than a wallet and phone and housekey, that's pretty moot. 

I simply must think of a purpose for this new tiny baby planner, that's all. 

Like, maybe I should jot down my basic knitting patterns to clip in there so I stop losing them? My sock instructions alone would be worth adding. 

Or a second calendar because look:

 

I already have it set up with a steeply discounted diary for the rest of this year.

And a compressed week-on-two-pages diary for next year. I love how the tiny day sections are the right size for a Post-It flag sticky, don't you? Makes it easy to highlight an event you find out about while in transit, and/or to transfer that information to a bigger planner back home.  

 

Or... nope, I've got nothing. 

What would you do with a tiny notebook you can slot paper into and out of at will? 

And while you're thinking about that, let's admire my socks again. They might be done next week, and wouldn't that be exciting?

Ahhhh, new socks. Just in time for the temperatures to drop enough for me to need them. Thanks so much for dropping in again this week and I will see you next Saturday!

 

 

 

Socks n Walks

Phew! It was looking a bit dicey around midweek, and I did have to work till 3 this morning, but I pulled it off and my manuscript is finally ready to go! Let's ignore the next paralysing stage of the writing process (shhhh... querying agents) and look at the delicate smudges of colour on these *completed sock heels*:

Aren't they gorgeous? And all I have left are feet and toes, with more than four weeks to go before Halloween.

This time of year is my absolute favourite and today in particular is a dream - chillyish temps, just enough for a light sweater, and clear skies with sun spotlighting the leaves which are just starting to fade from green. Perfect conditions for walking. Here's what our usual trail looks like:

and if we get in with enough time before dark, also this:

 

which means you need shoes with enough tread to handle the slope you can just see in the background there. Plus the other slopes.

I kind of like these Merrells - they're Moab 3 if that means anything to you, a budget hiking shoe which our local store happened to have in stock in my size when I realized my other shoe options were too worn to be useful on this terrain. 

They did fine for a 90 minute walk and that's about our normal, plus the colours are so muted and friendly for whatever sock I might throw in there. 

The other day Pete spotted something interesting on a run and brought me back later to take pictures:

 

I have never seen a mushroom like this, have you? Apparently it's called Chicken Of The Woods because it can sub in for chicken in any recipe. It tastes like and has the consistency of chicken. 

I decided to take the internet's word for its being delicious and was just glad to be able to see it in its glory

... before it starts getting nibbled by insects, like this tree.

Really gives me a craving for Halloween candy corn though! Even nature knows orange and yellow go great together.

 

Okay that's me for today - got a house to clean after all that neglect while I was working so hard! Hope your weekend is relaxing and delightful, and I look forward to seeing you next Saturday. By then, maybe my chompy socks will have finished their conversation and grown up into useful warming Halloween sockies!

 

 

 

 

 

In a flap

Two flaps in fact - matching heel flaps!

I've been knitting on revision breaks. Wish me luck to finish one (manuscript) or the other (a sock) before I see you next week... 

Knitlove

All week I've been poking away at my Halloween socks and am almost up to the heel on one of them!

I'm either starting now, or in ten rounds, depending on what my recount tells me. 

I've dropped this fine book into today's lead photo because it's never too early for Christmas shopping and omigosh Francesco Marciuliano's work on cat (and now dog) communication is so funny. This one, You Need More Sleep, is just an honest caption for practically anyone. We also have an earlier poetry collection, I Could Pee On This, and highly recommend it. 

Back to Knit Love: My arm still gets sore if I work too long at my needles so I am having to accept the snail's pace...

... and for totally unrelated reasons I may have vacuumed off about seven years' dust on my spinning wheel this week. Spinning might be easier on that irritated nerve, right? Like I have *so* much time for spinning, and relearning spinning, I'm sure. When I unfolded it for the dust removal I realized I no longer remember which bits go where and why. Thank goodness it's an Ashford, with loads of how-to videos on YouTube.

Because I can't knit sweaters now, I feel highly justified in buying them, and was very pleased to find this Eileen Fisher beauty, pre-loved, on eBay. 

It's worn purl side out which is such a a fave thing of mine! Two or three stitches in the front were looking frail so I reinforced them with black button thread in a duplicate stitch. I should have used wool really, but the button thread was the exact size and texture for the black yarn used in the sweater.

(this pic is from before I did the fix, and I'm not sure what that greyish blob is in the lower left. maybe a pulled thread I tugged back into place? there were one or two of those needing attention.)

If I'd needed to fix more stitches I'd have had to use wool instead... as it is, the rigid cotton thread is like a brace on that fluid drape. I've done so much with textiles over the years, I was surprised to be surprised by what a difference it made!

The week ahead is going to be very busy here, starting pretty much as soon as I post this, so I've decided in advance I will not post next Saturday. I mean, maybe a single photo, but no chat! Gotta keep my head clear for a ton of revisions on my current manuscript. 

When I come back I might have a sock heel to share. Well, honestly, what I'm really hoping for is a LOT of sock heels to share because I am long overdue for a serious darning fest. 

Either way, I hope you have a lovely couple of weeks and a delightful pair of weekends too! Thanks so much for spending this time with me.

And aren't you grateful you don't have this pile of stripes to fix up before the temps drop?