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!