I stopped by Pearl last night to pick up some foam core board to finish the Eiffel Tower clock. I've got new photos of it up as well as two shots of what I'm working on: Professor Fizzby's Freebee and Cross-Eyed Cricket's Patriotic Acorn Silver Needle style. I have to say that it's good to know that mere cretins are finding work, since the Pearl Arts and Crafts on Pico and La Cienega seems to be entirely staffed by them. I'm not sure they could work less efficiently or more slowly. But enough about them, you want to know what's wrong with my hands!
Every stitcher battles dry skin at some point in her stitching career, and I'm in the throes of it. The skin on the outside of my index finger leading down to the inside of the thumb is flecked with little circles of dryness. I know it is because I stitch in-hand. It doesn't help that I get up every hour to wash my hands either, even though I am using mosturizing soap! During the day--when I'm working, not stitching--I try to use hand cream as much as possible. I even splashed my keyboard with Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream this morning. Oh, I've got the hands of a Norwegian fisherman all right. "Just a dab" doesn't seem to be doing much for me. I've also tried "Gloves in a Bottle" from the not-so-local needlework shop; it feels nice, but doesn't cure what ails me. Neither has the "Zim's Crack Cream." (Not for that kind of crack, silly.) It has a lovely scent, and as a result of my using it, my neighbor and mother have both bought it. Finally, that stuff in the moo-cow bottle has done nada except make the Dude accuse me of smelling like a cow. He's a city boy; he's hardly laid eyes on a cow, let alone smelled one. So I am left poorer, and with dry hands. If you've got the cure, let us in on the secret!