Word of Mouth - The Crust & Fades Contest

[reallypeacedoff]

15 hours ago, Jared_Lee said:

@reallypeacedoff, looking forward to the end of the contest so I actually have time enough to wear the Denime like this! Or the Roys, or the Full Counts, or the Studios...🤣

Same! Going to finish the last 6 months of '26 in the 220A, figured 6 months will have them looking tops. Then it's the Fullcounts, or the Warehouse or The Strike Gold...😂

[CSL]

[vIGGiou riou]

after last wash...

[julian-wolf]

Springtime is coming early, this year

This week we saw our first tulips and our first crocuses

 

In December we planted a whole row of grape hyacinth along the border of our front yard and they’ve been filling in great over the past few weeks

 

Daffodils and paperwhites have been nonstop, but they get cut and brought inside as soon as they’re ready so not much opportunity for photos

 

…even the wild garlic out back is flowering

 

Meanwhile, we(+ contest jeans)’ve been busy planting and prepping the year’s first round of starts. Timelapse incoming:

 

Two weeks in the window of the front room and they’re ready to transplant

 

In the spirit of the forum, a representative pre- and post-soak comparison:

 

and Now we wait!

[reallypeacedoff]

Not seen but took the WOMJ out to The Baked Potato last night to see some jazz, specifically Danny playing on the drums. Wow, just wow!

Wasn't expecting him to bring as big a kit, to be honest.

[ATWM]

Jeans repaired and back in action, hoping this isn’t the last outing of the year but today brings a thaw.

[reallypeacedoff]

Getting mine repaired this week. A lot of holes are developing and taking off for a brief holiday soon. Need to make sure they last the holidays. Hoping it's the last time until the conclusion of the contest.

[UkeNo]

 

@reallypeacedoff You REBEL! 

 

Edited February 14 by UkeNo

[ashgiovanni]

On 2/11/2026 at 10:52 PM, reallypeacedoff said:

Getting mine repaired this week. A lot of holes are developing and taking off for a brief holiday soon. Need to make sure they last the holidays. Hoping it's the last time until the conclusion of the contest.

Do you guys have a go to repair shop? I fear I may have some holes developing  but don’t want to be without my jeans too long…should probably invest in learning how to do repairs myself 😂 

[reallypeacedoff]

1 hour ago, UkeNo said:

@reallypeacedoff You REBEL! 

Ha! He was setting up, so free game until the performance.

 

31 minutes ago, ashgiovanni said:

Do you guys have a go to repair shop? I fear I may have some holes developing  but don’t want to be without my jeans too long…should probably invest in learning how to do repairs myself 😂 

I take mine to the local dry cleaner. I took it in yesterday morning, and she told me I could pick it up this afternoon, crazy! Especially since I cut out and numbered 9 patches, plus I need the pocket bag fixed. She was impressed by my numbering system and instructions, so that may have been the clincher for a quick turnaround. Most were just "patches," but for three spots I asked for "darning," although we are not talking, like SE level darning.

[Jared_Lee]

Latest from a work trip to London.

[Broark]

So I stopped wearing my pair for a few months, they were feeling too snug and I wasn't crazy about the fit.
Lost some weight since the start of the new year, so they're feeling a lot better now.
Probably too little too late to be in contention, but I'll give it my best!

[nopal]

On 1/16/2026 at 6:21 PM, nopal said:

Eight-wash before the 1 year mark.

Nine-wash a couple of days ago.

[nopal]

And a few extra shots because it was a sunny day.

[MJF9]

I’m catching up! Well, very slowly 😉

There’s a story here…

I tore the meniscus in my knee 2.5 years ago, probably from throwing roundhouses into a heavy bag after well over a year off… doh… it finally went big time when I was on the track training for a possible comeback that never happened… anyhow… a year of physio failed to fix it…  and so 1.5 years ago I’m lying there in hospital, in a post-operation stupor, floating on morphine... messaging @beautiful_FrEaK working out the WoM contest details and deciding on the 5150s…

In the year after the op, I wondered if I’d ever walk without knee pain, let along run… but like a good boy I patiently stuck to the deadlifts and squats… then last November, I started to run again pain free… slowly slowly… and have since managed twice a week... steady as it goes… but the old knee is functioning again… result... relieved and happy 

Of course, I make sure I’m in proper running clothes… the WoM 5150s and FW 1930s jacket…

[julian-wolf]

@MJF9 Really glad you’ve been able to get back up and running; meniscus issues (connective tissue stuff in general) are the most frustrating

In case you haven’t given it a try, I can’t recommend glucosamine supplements strongly enough for helping w/ long-term recovery

[MJF9]

@julian-wolf thanks... I've not had glucosamine in years so thanks for that prompt too

[CSL]

I messed up my shoulder a few weeks ago, doing pull ups and dips, back and forth without breaks.

I didn't feel anything tweak at the time but the next day I knew something was off. 

Figured it would calm down after a few days but unfortunately that hasn't been the case.

I'm trying every shoulder rehab exercise that pops up on IG and functionality is pretty normal. I can do pressing exercises at least with some care and caution.

It seems to have settled into some kind of tendonitis perhaps.

I'll definitely add the glucosamine to my vitamin intake.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 28 by CSL

[ATWM]

I've had various joint problems for a good decade plus now, mostly because I'm a stubborn person and overdo it a lot. Obviously can't speak to what works for someone as a person but I've taken glucosamine  at various junctures for long periods and I can't say it's ever helped. PT on the other hand has been more effective than anything else - and only PT that I've tackled when I've been evaluated by a therapist. My recovery is always a little slower than they hope - sometimes it's 3 months of daily exercises if something is stubborn. I talked with my doc about glucosamine last time I saw him - he's someone I respect quite a bit - I'm not a doctor but I am surrounded by them in all of my family so I like to think I have an idea of a good a not so good doctor. Anyways he told me that it tracked that glucosamine didn't do anything as it doesn't really outperform placebo broadly, which is what I also found. I've never had a knee injury but it didn't help with my shoulder subluxations. What did help was time under tension weight training (static holds). FWIW. If it works for someone that's great just sharing my experience. 

Tendinitis in particular is tough - as far as I understand the trick is to find a resistance exercise that works pretty much opposite to the motion that caused it to happen, and to not make it worse, because it takes a long time to calm down once it's there. I have it almost all the time in my elbow (from pull ups and other stuff).

Edited February 28 by ATWM

[julian-wolf]

^ well the placebo would’ve kept working just fine if you hadn’t gone & blown its cover

[MJF9]

10 hours ago, CSL said:

I messed up my shoulder a few weeks ago, doing pull ups and dips, back and forth without breaks.

I didn't feel anything tweak at the time but the next day I knew something was off. 

Figured it would calm down after a few days but unfortunately that hasn't been the case.

I'm trying every shoulder rehab exercise that pops up on IG and functionality is pretty normal. I can do pressing exercises at least with some care and caution.

It seems to have settled into some kind of tendonitis perhaps.

I'll definitely add the glucosamine to my vitamin intake.

It could be a shoulder impingement @CSL caused by a strength imbalance in the shoulder joint knocking things out of alignment. It's quite common and easy to inadvertently create as you get stronger.  Also often people's professions don't help e.g. bad posture through sitting at a desk. 

I've had a shoulder impingement on and off (it's annoyingly on now) over the past 10 years.  I always carry on exercising and work around it.  The rehab is exercises using resistance bands / small weights to mobiliise and strenghten the rotator cuff, plus exercises to strengthen the scapular and stretches.  I had it diagnosed (defo worth seeing a sports Dr or physio) then had to do the physio for months to get it better (tedious but critical to resolving it).  It still comes back intermittently, from which I recently concluded it never fully fixes itself and I should do exercises permanently. Then, a month ago my wife was talking to this bloke who'd just got his PhD around the topic of sporting injuries... and part of his research had confirmed that very point...

[volvo240thebest]

apologies for dropping off from the contest, between the start of it and now I have lost 22 kilos, the jeans are a 38 and I believe I would now fit easily a 34. I was 104, now I am 82. 
If anyone may like to get them, I'd be happy to sell, they had light use for three months then I started to wear them less and lees as I was slimming down. 
 

[Maynard Friedman]

@MJF9 & @CSL - do you take collagen supplements? It may work in combination with glucosamine.

[MJF9]

@Maynard Friedman thanks for the shout - I'll add it into the ever growing supplement cabinet

[ATWM]

12 hours ago, julian-wolf said:

^ well the placebo would’ve kept working just fine if you hadn’t gone & blown its cover

ha, just remind yourself I'm some crank on the internet who shan't be given a second thought so it should go on doing it's work just fine. 

[julian-wolf]

My very favorite digestivo is this limoncino from Levanto, a town on the Ligurian coast just west of Cinque Terre—a section of the coast focused heavily on citrus farming

 

In many ways, Levanto itself feels like one of the coolest towns I've spent time in. The last time I had the chance to visit was before the start of the contest, so I'll hold back from getting too sidetracked…but here are a few photos from December 2022 and from April 2024 to capture a bit of the vibe, from the Levanto beach itself and looking down on the town from from the foot path between there and Monterosso al Mare, the next town to the east

 

Well, of course, I don't have a chance to re-stock often, so we've needed to come up with some alternatives. In our front yard there's one citrus tree: a tangelo, supposedly: a mix between a tangerine and a pomelo. It produces well, twice a year. The fruits are too sour to eat plain, but their juice is great in drinks, and, more to the point, their peels are fantastically aromatic.

 

Making citrus digestivi is pretty straightforward: You zest the citrus, extract it it high-proof grain liquor for a week or a month, strain it, and mix it with simple syrup. Here, we run into a bit of an issue, which is that high-proof liquor isn't sold in California. We do our best to compensate by using a very clear vodka + a much-heavier-than-simple syrup for an overall similar ratio of alcohol to water to sugar, and sure, it's nothing to compare to its Ligurian counterpart—but mamma mia, it's very drinkable! We've dubbed it tangiellocello

 

(Sorry for any offense caused by the photos over ice—the first time trying it, we couldn't quite wait for it to cool down all the way on its own)

 

Edited March 1 by julian-wolf

[bartlebyyphonics]

good updates all

good to seeing catching up, sad to see dropping out...

have been a little lax on them (wearing sugar cane for formal or tcb dungarees for loafing)

def the season to get that last push in...

some pix from a wash last week; twisties...

 

[bartlebyyphonics]

the twist...

 

[Jared_Lee]

After the most recent wash and on their way for more repairs.

[julian-wolf]

A++, definite front runner material!

Envious that your patch has kept its ink so well after all this time, + of all that delicious marbling action