(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)
So, I live just a few miles away from Anderson Pens. It's fabulous when it's time to pick up the new Retro, or when I need supplies in a hurry. But it's also incredibly dangerous, like when I pop into the shop for one thing, and notice a new brand of notebook I haven't tried yet. It happens. Frequently. This time, the notebook I picked up was the Profolio Oasis Summit from Itoya.
It caught my eye with a few features I know I love--lots of pages (126 sheets! 252 numbered pages!), sewn lay-flat binding with a taped spine, double ribbon bookmarks, an index, and versatile guidelines. It also has a sturdy cardstock cover, nice endpapers, and a minimal silver foil stamped logo. It's a pretty notebook, which hasn't stopped me from decorating the cover with some washi and making it my own.
My favorite thing about this notebook is the guide lines. Through clever alchemy, it is grid, dot, and lined all at the same time. There are fine grey lines that are narrowed by two faint, dotted dividing lines, and then there are vertical dot grid lines. It works for writing text, class notes, outlines, lists, or working on handwriting. It would make a perfect Bullet Journal. None of the lines are obtrusive, so you can pick whichever way you prefer to use it. I've been using it as my everything book, and it's worked wonderfully. I have packing lists, daily/hourly to-do lists, important notes--all kinds of chaos. Which is also why I'm glad it has an index.
The paper quality is also very good. It's fountain pen friendly, with a fairly quick dry time. It doesn't show much sheen, but shading is nice, and I did not have any bleed-through with normal writing, and no feathering. Some ink did bleed through when I let it pool and soak in, so it's not completely impervious, but I've written in it with a wide variety of nibs and inks and not had any issues.
At $25, I do think this is a little on the pricy side for a softcover B6 notebook. It's the quantity of pages that shifts it over into the "worth it" category for me. It's working well and I'm quite happy with it. I'm going to need a few more.
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