Allow me to just add another confirmation of this.
Looked into the save, et voilá:

Loading last working save:
<fieldName>stolenHandkerchiefs</fieldName>
<value xsi:type="xsd:int">15</value>

Immediately created save from this:
<fieldName>stolenHandkerchiefs</fieldName>
<value xsi:type="xsd:int">18</value>

Good to know the dev had figured this out as fast as well, afaik.
Now waiting for the patch it is; *sips at morning coffee.

Makes me wonder why my first attempt with setting hankies to 10 didn't work. Anyway, save yourself some trouble and set them down to 1 instead so the saves won't immediately break when you pick up a new one

Which should happen very soon now (based on dev comment on steam forum)
http://steamcommunity.com/app/417290/discussions/1/1697167803859474171/



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EDIT - 6.32 patch:

I can now load saves that were previously stuck on neverending loading screen. So the issue seems to be fixed.
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