Tendonitis is ruining my knit-life

So, I started a Master's program this fall, and the return to school work has been an interesting one for me.
One unfortunate side effect is way less time for knitting. The other unfortunate side effect is that it doesn't actually matter that I don't have time to knit, because between my overly typing/mousing type job, my need to now write long papers and working on my half finished sock I ended up with terrible pain in two of my fingers, and cannot knit for longer than about 20 minutes without aggravating it.
And sadly, I'm not allowed to stop going to work just because my fingers hurt.
Anyone want to teach me to knit continental? My attempts at making the switch on my own have been...comical, let's say.
Otherwise, any ideas how to recover enough to allow me to return to knitting? The days of knitting for hours on end seem like a wonderful dream anymore.

Is it weird...

...that I'm carrying around a swatch in my pocket?
What if it happens to be an alpaca/merino/silk blend?
Surprisingly, my coworker did not blink an eye when presented with a swatch when he asked me if I liked knitting with alpaca.

At last...

I have returned!
And in the spirit of making this blog about more than just my reptilian pets, look here is my first ever hand-knit sock!! (cat added for interest)



That is the Embossed Leaves pattern from this book.
I used Berroco Comfort Socks in Southland. (I think...)

Here it is by itself.

No it is not for a child, yes I have freakishly small feet.

Reptiles have it tough

My little Tao has been having trouble shedding off and on since I got him/her, and last week was no exception. He's pretty much used to being hassled though, since I keep having to help. However, last week I knew I missed some because his one foot felt weird when I held him. I'd been worried, as usual, and had been soaking him and trying to help, but had been extremely unsuccessful. Last night I finally found an edge I could use to roll the extra shed off.

Ok, so now that I've geeked or grossed out everyone in the world, I just have to say, it was a good night! I was worried he was going to lose a toe or something. I do not want to be a reptile in my next life.

Nice...I fail...

At posting.
Life has been something a little bit less than ideal lately, so it has been hard to get motivated to write. Which is sad since it makes me happy.

I'm also going to start posting some links on the side for you all to check out, some of the extremely cool and extremely weird things that I come across when I'm looking around the internet. I'm afraid none of them will be all that useful or educational or anything like that, but I am a big fan of blog link lists, so...

Anyway, I guess I'm better at posting than I was (3 months off, what?), but...I'll try harder. And sadly no pictures this time, I'm currently in the market for a nice DSLR, so that should help eventually.

Life is weird...

My next-cube-neighbor just called me over, because she had found a picture on a random cub scout website that she thought was me. It was news to me that I have any pictures on the web, so I was like, I doubt it - but it WAS me! It was from my days of zoo education, and I'm the one holding a cockroach in the picture. Edit (7/31) - no more picture...it's not working...

This makes me wonder how many random pictures of me there are out in the world, since I've been doing this stuff for a couple of years now, and people are constantly taking my picture.
I'm also wondering how many people who have known me are now seeing pictures on the internet and thinking: "I think I know that girl!" Guess its better to be holding a cockroach than caught doing something more salacious!

Where did all the writing go?

So apparently I'm not a very good blogger, spending many months not updating. I was actually realizing yesterday that I used to be a prolific journal writer and story-teller, and somewhere in the last 5 years, it has all gone away. I realized this while reading through the archives of a wonderful little photo blog.
This woman has a regular blog as well, but I am completely in love with her photo blog - the beauty of the photographs, and the thoughts she has added to the photos...I had real blog-jealousy over it.
What really rang true for me though were her resolutions to spend more time taking photographs and writing in a journal. I'm finding that no matter how hard I try, I can never seem to spend time doing the things I love most, writing, reading, taking pictures, knitting, and spending time with my friends, family and pets. I am beginning to think that that is life, but I don't want to give it up without a fight. So for my resolution, I will say that I will update at least once a week, unless I'm on vacation, and begin to post pictures with every post (note to self, find scanner cords!), and hopefully that will get me back on the writing path.

Unrelated gecko note: Last night we had a cricket feeding, and Akers kept missing the last cricket and then practically sitting on it. So I picked her up and pointed her nose right at the bug in question - she couldn't be bothered to actually HUNT the cricket anymore, and just started snapping at it from her perch in my hand. We chased it around the cage (I chased, she snapped at a spot directly in front of her nose) and finally caught it. Quite the team effort.
I had to keep myself from jerking my hand away from the cricket, because apparently I'm a total wimp when it comes to bugs that jump.