zissou

OK, everyone who sent me their address for the gift swap should have just received a message with the address of the person to whom they should send their gift!

Twenty one people signed up, and 15 of the swaps are transoceanic. Have fun!!

OK, regarding points, I would really like to have a way to assign points to more than one person. Say. X had the best fading, but Y had the best creases, but Z had the best stories (or something)- it would be fun to give them all points. Can each of us please score jeans the same way as the judges, and then the top 5 highest scores goes to the judging round where points start over at zero?

The other question is- will people vote for themselves!? Maybe we shouldn't be allowed to? Sorry, I am adrunk, so I hope this makes sense.

ten images is a ton to wade through. I would suggest three each, but feel free to scoff at that idea.

^I need your mailing address, unless you just want an emailed gift

i'm glad to see so many interested in the gift swap.

PM me your name and mailing address by the end of the day tomorrow, if you haven't already. So far, I have addresses from:

1. zissou

2. rnrswitch

3. mikecch

4. thissunday

5. medine

6. robbie

7. rayw44

8. paul t

9. adh92

10. tg76

11. cash

12. erk

13. almostnice

14. ranon

15. joseph hill

16. dkatz

DISCLAIMER: By participating in this gift swap, you agree to send one package valuing no more than US$20 to your recipient. Packages should be sent by Dec 15 (or as early as possible!) to ensure that they arrive by the end of the year.

Lots of great stuff on this thread. Corter, you're on fire! I love the new designs and dyed leather.

Simon- I like the maker's mark very much. I just today bought a table made in Denmark, and I think you got the font just right. I'm thinking of having one made, myself.

I need some thread advice. I usually use waxed linen, but I want to switch to thinner thread for wallets. All of the thinner linen thread that I've tried breaks so easily. If any of you would care to share the type of thread you use, and a link to an online shop you like, it would be much appreciated.

Nooo, I put everyone's name in a hat and you get one person's name and need to send them a small gift. I'm trying to get an email out to everyone, but I don't have an up to date list.

I don't think anyone would complain about getting those as a gift, Joseph!

I'll send out an email to everyone (for those who aren't paying attention to this thread- tsk!), but I need everyone Pm or email their full name and address so I can get this thing organized.

1. zissou

2. almostnice

3. ranon

4. thissunday

5. robbie

6. mikecch

7. roy6

8. cash

9. rayw44

10. paul t

11. medine

12. adh92

13. dkatz

14. joseph hill

So sorry to hear that, illumin8em. I remember it took pomata forever to receive them, thanks to the Italian post. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

OK, so far, we have the following folks signed up for the gift exchange:

1. zissou

2. almostnice

3. ranon

4. thissunday

5. robbie

6. mikecch

7. roy6

8. cash

Absolutely, ranon! BTW, this is obviously non-denominational. I am happy to call it a holiday gift exchange...

A bunch of people agree to send one person a Christmas gift, and I put everyone's names in a hat and let each person know to whom they need to send a gift. For instance, I might send a gift to you, markus, but you have to send a gift to robbie, etc... Usually, there's a fairly low monetary value, like $15-20?

I was going to guess Alaska from the photos! Looks like a great (but cold) trip.

Who is up for a RoyxCone Secret santa exchange?

Looking great, ThisSunday. Yeah, I feel like all I've been doing this week is sitting around, eating, and watching movies. I need to plan some exciting stuff to end the year!

Roys on three Billion year old rocks. Top that!

The banding on the rocks was mesmerizing.

The sun sets early these days, so it's time to head home!

I was back out on Antelope Island State Park today, along with a group of folks who have participated in my classes. I like to have a monthly field day to get back together again and share stories and ideas. It was the perfect autumn day, 50F and sunny.

We spent a fair amount of time exploring down on the shore of Great Salt Lake. I briefly considered a salt lake wash on the Roys, until I remembered how chilly it was. The salinity of GSL is about 15%, which is about 4X as salty as sea water.

Beware of roaming bison!

OK, so my iPhone can do a lot , but it apparently cannot photograph swimming brine shrimp very well. It's a sea monkey!

When water temperatures drop this time of year, brine shrimp shift from giving birth to live young to producing cysts- hard-shelled eggs that can not only survive the winter, but hundreds of years in the muck. Cysts often float on the surface of the water, where they are harvested by companies that sell them to the aquaculture trade, primarily to feed prawns. This little glob in my hand probably contains several thousand cysts.

The cool thing about the sand on the island is that it is formed much like a pearl is formed in an oyster shell. A little nucleus (brine shrimp poop) floats around in the water and concentric layers of calcium carbonate accumulate around it. As a result, we have little pearls of sand.

We headed back down to the old ranch house on the island, which is the oldest building in Utah on its original foundation.

I tried to crank the tunes, but she wasn't working!

On the way back up the island, we had to nudge some bison out of the road with our cars.

We had to stop and check out the banded gneiss outcrops. Oddly enough, this is one of the oldest rocks in Utah, but it sits atop younger rock layers. It's all from the old thrust faults, which pushed old layers on top of newer, and then the layers on top of the old layer eroded down.

Did you hot soak that jacket yet, RNR? I hate to say it, but cuffing the body looks a little goofy.

I have three different chambray utility shirts, and they all fit drastically different. Fine with me, though.

Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Hill! Had I been you, I would have registered at the chocolate factory.

THose look great, riff. Been thinking about a pair for a while now.

@Zissuo Your gts looking really good after all the work! Kiwi colour shine cordovan?

Thanks. Yeah, just your standard kiwi polish in cordovan color.

After a year of on and off wear, including a winter, hiking, and house/yard work, my RWs were pretty well scuffed up and dirty. So, I washed them with saddle soap, polished them up with Kiwi cordovan, and gave them a good coat of Obenauf's LP. Good as new and ready for winter!

ConexRoys at 10mo, probably 9mo of wear, a couple days after their fourth hand wash.

Awesome Zissou, although I thought things were leading up to some sort of powder-keg finale (which is sort of what we got here). It makes me sad for the Wawona schooner that we had until recently. It was the last of Seattles wooden fishing fleet (cod was big at one time). The Wooden Boat center had been desperately trying to save it for years, but pressure from the city, and Paul Allen (one of the biggest Aholes around and certainly the biggest in Seattle) who wanted to reshape South Lake Union into a futuristic, bio-tech, Allenopolis hated this "old eyesore" and pushed it to its final repose as wood chips and toothpicks.

That's sad to hear, although it's always a struggle. The Seaport is constantly raising money to restore the Morgan, even if it's recently had a restoration. I remembered when they restored it when I was a kid, at least 25 years ago, and here they were doing another full restoration on her again. Each time they have it out of the water, it takes 3-4 years and millions of dollars. They had completely disassembled the masts and rigging, and were even making new cordage the old fashioned way. I cannot imagine the amount of work and planning it takes just to keep a ship like that afloat. The hull was completely full of worm holes.

Trying hard to figure out the new sufu- no more rep system, capital letters don't exist, can't locate my subscriptions...

In the mean time, here are my Roys at 10 mo, probably 9 mo actual wear, a couple days after their fourth hand wash:

Agreed. Also, your boy is too cute, fre$co!

I just used Kiwi Cordovan on mine, and it worked well.