The project that I’ve been working on for the past four months, ever since starting at Mi9, has finally been launched! The Jump-in site is now fully responsive and allows you to watch full episodes of Channel 9 (and Go and Gem) shows. We’ve had a Jump-in app for ages, but now we’re bringing that content to the world beyond iOS devices. This is only just the beginning! But man, I’m so thrilled with that the team’s managed to accomplish. This is a great foundation.

Vintage Dressmaking Workshop in Sydney – I just signed up for this class at Sew Make Create. It starts in a couple weeks, and I’ll end up with a new retro dress for Christmas!

An Open Letter to the President and CEO of Costco – We were already going to head to Costco today, but now I feel all SNIFFLY about it. What a sweet letter! (And yeah, I’m not sure whether the Australian arm is as progressive an employer as the US one, but I really hope so.)

Randomly, Serious Eats has a series of recipes today that all involve breakfast cereal. I was amused by the Cheerios Coated Grilled Cheese Sandwich and the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Coated Apple Stuffed French Toast, but it was the Spiced Pumpkin and Golden Grahams Cereal Trifle that had me drooling. WHY didn’t I bring back a box from the US?! *kicking myself*

I figured it was time to end the steady drip-drip of Instagram photos and actually write some WORDS in the BLOG like I used to do way back when. So as you’ve probably gathered, something pretty special took place last month. It was the biennial Camp for the Knitters Guild of NSW, and as the Camp Convenor for the past two years, it nearly killed me. But it was also awesome.

First I have to give some thanks to a few people. I put my hand up for the role in October 2011 on the proviso that I could have a committee to help me. The two people who put their hands up and kindly volunteered to let me bully them for the next 20 months were Clare Hacker and Helen Giesaitis, and I couldn’t have done it without them! Thank you both so much.

The other folks who really went above and beyond were the Executive Committee: Merrin (first as President and then Treasurer), Sally (first as Treasurer and then President), Mary-Helen, Kate, and Ailsa. I don’t think the rest of the Guild appreciates how much work they do! There are a lot of other people to thank – the amazing teachers, the staff at The Tops, Donna and Zena for pouring champagne Friday night, Pru for arranging for GoGet to comp us a PeopleMover, everyone who gave someone a lift or tidied up the dining room or helped someone out – THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH.

And thus I now present to you: Knit Camp 2013 – a story in pictures.Camp was held at Stanwell Tops Conference Centre, about an hour south of Sydney. While most people drove themselves, we still had over 20 people arriving on the train who needed to be ferried 8km from the station. Thanks to some lovely volunteers and the handy PeopleMover donated by GoGet, we got them all in two trips!

President Sally gave a lovely kickoff speech Friday night (including a welcome to country).

Then it was time for Helen’s brainchild: the Techniques Turntable! Similar to speed dating, knitters were able to visit seven different tables each of which had a handout and a teacher showing a specific technique. Here are Lara and Kate showing off Continental Knitting to a crowd!

Camp continued Saturday with some great workshops, including this one on double knitting taught by Lynn.

Of course, there will always be one naughty student Instagramming rather than knitting…

We had a separate building for social knitting and retail therapy, with four retailers on the Saturday and three on the Sunday. Here’s Judith from the Wollombi Wool Store, where I slipped and fell on some Rowan myself…

Unfortunately for me, I noticed a sore throat the minute I arrived at Camp. I think I’d been running on stress and adrenaline for the last few weeks, and as soon as I started to relax my immune system just collapsed. Here I am hiding for a brief rest on Saturday.

The weather was gorgeous. Some spinners actually set up outside!

Did I mention the wandering masseuse? I got all the credit for this idea, but truth be told it had been suggested at several previous Camps. I ended up booking Ellen through Seated Massage, and I can’t recommend them or her highly enough. She roamed throughout the day giving discreet neck and shoulder massages to weary knitters. Highlight of my Saturday, let me tell you.

More people went outside to catch the setting sun. It was perfect weather, just cool enough to still wear our handknits.

We concluded Saturday night with an amazing Camp-wide Show & Tell. Each person went up to show off an item that was special to them and tell the story behind it. And check out that Twitter wall in the background! (This was a high-tech Camp.)

Yeah. I wasn’t doing well at this point.

More retail therapy on the Sunday with the girls from The House of Wool…

And here’s Renae from SuzyHausfrau, giving an excellent talk on turning your knitting into a business. Our other non-traditional workshop offering was Photographing Your Knitting, taught by a professional photographer.

And then it was a blur of final speeches and teary hugs and packing up and cleaning up and suddenly it was all over. And I was only joking a little bit when I collapsed there at the end.

I ended up on antibiotics for two weeks, and I was basically a zombie all through preparations for our trip overseas a week later. But it was all worth it. Camp is done! And it went well! And somebody else has volunteered to do the next one! Really, couldn’t be better. 🙂

Use Only as Directed | MetaFilter – Timely. This past Friday at Knit Camp, I could tell I was getting sick and feverish so I took a couple paracetamol in the evening. Then when I was helping hand out the champagne, Zena asked if I didn’t want one myself. I said, “I can’t have any, as I just took some paracetamol.” But she said that didn’t matter. So we went over to Sandra (a nurse PhD) for a second opinion. “Sandra,” I said, “Is it okay to have alcohol with paracetamol? I was always told that would destroy your liver.” “No, no,” she said chuckling. “The paracetamol is doing that anyway.” So yeah, as the TAL episode and the MetaFilter thread point out, Tylenol is a lot more dangerous than most people realise.

The Best Bike Lock | The Sweethome – U-locks are evidently the best. I could’ve guessed that.

This 4-6″ index card has all the financial advice you’ll ever need – The Washington Post – Bookmarking for reference!

Smooth Sailing E-Pattern!! | Wearing History – Ooh, a cute downloadable pattern for a 1940’s blouse! Urge to sew returning… (Link courtesy of Bex.)

MEOW Foundation Yarn Collection – LOVE IT! I can get knitting wool inspired by Petey Cat and Dr. Amy Jones! I am very tempted…