AKA caution, Boud at work.
So I shortened the two dresses I mentioned yesterday, and I'm looking at ways to decorate them, if I don't do cutouts, which I might still do.
The little rectangular painting is one I painted directly years ago on a t-shirt. When it wore out I kept the painting and now it might have new life. Acrylic paint, has been washed many times.
The silk stars and hexies I've got from making them whenever I felt like a bit of stitching. I have quite a few more, before I get to the decisions.
I also have a bonus: the two pieces of soft knitted fabric that I cut off, big enough for shorts or underwear. Or shorts that work as underwear.
Stitching is on hold today for seasonal technical reasons. My thumb is wrapped in bandaids and tape to help heal the crack that opened up when the temperature and humidity plunged, making it impossible to put pressure on the thumb for the moment without enlarging the crack. I also can't stitch with the wrapped thumb for now.
A derma explained to me years ago this is a systemic skin structure issue. It's not just the surface that opens, like winter dryness. It's a quarter inch deep and bleeding before you know it. I forgot to start on my gotu kola in October, the usual way to ward it off, so here we are.
A couple of days wrapped and protected will be good. At least it's only one. I've had both thumbs and forefingers suddenly break down in a cold snap, which made using keys really tricky.
I practice rigorous skin care, but this is not your usual winter skin thing, and nothing other than gotu kola seems to ward it off.
The thing that helps healing, after the fact, is a poultice of Chinese licorice, but only if it's exactly the right stuff. I'm posting the label as a public service, in case anyone needs to know this.
It was a terrific local herbalist who taught me about this and insisted it must be the exact right species. I've had this for years; it was dried when I got it and still seems to work.
You steep a couple of slices of the root in a couple of ounces of boiling water, then when it's tolerable to touch, submerge the hurting bit for a while.
You can also soak lint or gauze in it as hot as you can manage, and hold it as a poultice on on the hurting bit. Its astonishing how soon it calms down and starts to heal. Haif an hour can do it for a start. I have never taken it internally so I'm not suggesting that
Enough medical stuff. While I've been writing, a gang of squirrels has wrenched the suet feeder off the shepherd's crook by force, so I need to go rescue it.
My fingers crack and peel when it's cold and dry. Ugh - I hate that.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I get those little skin cracks at the corner of our fingers in cold winter weather too. Jeez, they can hurt! I've made note of your Chinese licorice root poultice remedy and will try it if I can find a Chinese herbalist here in the city who stocks it. We have found that applying those "liquid skin" bandaging drops directly on the fissure can help too, by stabilizing it so movement doesn't hurt or deepen it.
ReplyDeleteMy hand activity usually stops when the arthritis in my thumb joint where it joins the palm starts screaming. I guess I'm going to have to start the gin soaked raisin thing again. Cheap gin, golden raisins. Cover raisins with gin and let evaporate. Eat 9 a day. It does help.
ReplyDeleteEllen, that sounds like a good idea even without arthritis.
ReplyDeleteDebra, thanks for the tip about liquid skin. If you find a herbalist who stocks the lic. they might also have gotu kola. My son does well with it, though his skin issues are milder than mine. It comes in capsule form.
Sometimes I wonder if Earth really is our native planet. There is so much about living on it that can cause such problems. Too much heat/too much cold can have truly devastating problems with our skin. And other things, of course. And then there is the matter of allergies- why are we allergic to things that grow around us so abundantly? And my favorite complaint- GRAVITY. Are we really evolved to live in this gravity? Our spines so often say, "NO!" Of course, we are still relatively new at this walking upright thing, aren't we?
ReplyDeleteWhen I look in the mirror I have serious reservations about gravity and why my face can't be exempted from it.
ReplyDeleteYour thumb condition sounds very very painful. Hope the herbal treatment works quickly. Sounds intriguing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Wilma. I did go and rescue the feeder and while I was refilling it my thumb opened up all over again argghghg.
ReplyDeleteIs gotu kola taken internally?
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
Chris yes. The derma who recommended it to me was Indian, had headed up a derma hospital there.
ReplyDeleteIn that climate it grows like a green salad and he would routinely recommend it as part of his patients diet.
He explained it wasn't obtainable in the US so I should get it in pill or capsule form from a herbalist. But best to get it from a qualified herbalist, for quality.
Weaving with cotton does a number on the hands. I was a spinner, too, and all that lanolin kept me out of trouble. Not my sister and my mom. They lived on liquid skin. I had a weaver friend who swore by krazy glue. She would just daube that on the split.
ReplyDeleteInteresting tip. Thank you
ReplyDeletePrayers for your healing
I swear I can hear my skin sluuurping up the lotion I apply multiple times a day. It doesn't take much exposure to cold air to turn a gentle hand into sore city.
My nails always looks bad this time of year, cracked and brittle. They break so easily.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I'm bothered by those horrible cracks too. I'm a voracious knitter and the cracks seem to favor the thumb and fingers where I carry. Vitamin E cream really helps too.
ReplyDeleteResident Chef has problems with his hands and his feet cracking so I'm curious to know if the gotu kola you mentioned is a cream, a drink or pills? Good ol' Vaseline slathered on his heels and covered with an old sock overnight seems to help but convincing him to remember to do it is a whole 'nother issue.
ReplyDeleteThe gotu kola I use is a powder packed in capsule form. Check with a derma though. I can't give medical advice!
ReplyDeleteKeeping up the humidity in the house is great, too.