I did a little more rummaging around at the thrift store and found a decent looking binder for my needles. It’s amazing what one can find in that store. I’m recycling this old Franklin Covey planner cover into a binder for my needles. A little scrub down with leather cleaner and it looks almost new. The detachable shoulder strap is a bonus.
For any of you out there that are also looking at various binder alternatives, I noticed that these binder pages from Knit Picks can fit into 8.5″ X 5.5″ binder. Just stagger them until the holes line up into the rings. I also tried this with a normal sized 3 ring binder and voila, the pages can also be made to fit one of those.
I did make steady progress on Firebirds this week. Here’s a photo of the back. Notice how that birds on the left face left and the ones on the right face right? I love this detail of the design. For now I’ve stuck with the pattern hoping all will work out well when I dress the sweater on a woolly board. On the next row the steeks for the armholes will be started.
Even though it’s hard to put Firbirds down, yesterday I started winding yarn for another sock project. Although I generally knit one item at a time, I’m itching to take on another more portable one.
Working with two hand painted yarn colors on my last sock project was so enjoyable that I want to explore similar possibilities. So my next little project will be the Sunrise-Sunset Socks from Big Girl Knits.
Purlwise 
what a great idea – I have a FC planner laying around I dont’ use anymore….
firebirds is stunning!!!!!
LikeLike
Firebirds never ceases to amaze me – it is so lovely!
LikeLike
So glad you showed another picture of Firebirds. It is stunning! But I can understand that you would need a portable project, too. Look forward to seeing the new socks.
LikeLike
Wow . . . I’m sure glad I never threw out my FC planner. I tried but just couldn’t get into it, especially since I was just a lowly employee with not enough “management” stuff to justify recording every single detail. Thanks for the idea.
LikeLike
Just in case anyone is wondering, the planner I found is what they calle “compact” size. I was looking at their website and noticed they have many styles so not all might be big enough for Knit Pick’s plastic needle pages.
LikeLike
Did it turn out that the special bolts from the hardware store didn’t work to convert the rings you already had to a new cover? I got SO excited reading that post, but now I see you’re using a FC planner. (I have an old one too – thanks for the idea!)
LOVELY sweater! A work of art!
LikeLike
Hi Wendee,
The bolts will work but since I found that FC binder I haven’t yet persued making my own.
Now that I’ve had the binder for a couple of months and it’s totally filled, it looks like I might need to make one after all. When I try to zip up the binder, the pages seem to get a little crinkled because they’re just a bit too big.
I picked up another FC planner at Goodwill and when I get time I’m going to take it apart and use the rings from that one. I like the wider rings.
LikeLike