Can't pickup cotton string

[ndonolli]

Hello all,

I've been playing the game for a bit so far and I reached a point in the underground tunnels where I had no idea how to light the fuse on the TNT tanks. After about an hour of trial and error I was forced to look at a walkthrough that said you have to pick up the cotton string in the work room. However, when I would have my cursor on the cotton string box before, all I got was an observe eye. I couldn't take it, even in interact mode.

Does anyone else have this weird glitch? If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong please tell; I can't get further without it.

Also, for a last resort, is there any way to edit the .sav files so that you change your inventory?