It is 15 degrees outside – with a negative 1 degree windshield – and I took a few wet sheets outside to dry on the line.
THIS IS INSANE!
OK, those of you who do this on a regular basis… how do you manage without freezing your fingers with the wet fabric? I was only out for a few minutes and only had three large sheets to hang, and by the time I got back inside I thought my poor fingers were going to fall off. The knit gloves I was wearing did me very little good.
I have one sheet hanging in my sunroom on a line, and several towels and pillowcases hanging off of hangers in the laundry room. It is about time to do jeans and sweatshirts, and I’m not sure how I will dry all of these smaller pieces inside – or handle them outside with the cold.
I may very possibly break down and take my wet laundry to the laundry mat to dry, which really defeats the purpose of me not having a dryer.
Perhaps some thermal gloves of some sort (backpacking, biking?) would help keep your fingers warmer. When the weather is slow to dry laundry, I try to space my loads apart a day or so. I only have a puny little set of lines outside that can handle one load at a time. I also have a couple of drying racks that I can use indoors and typically hang shirts up on thick plastic hangers to dry.
If you do go to the laundromat to dry the laundry, don’t take it as a failure. There have been some occasions when I’ve had to use a dryer but it is rare and currently unavoidable so I just accept that it’s how it is for now. I have no way to dry heavy blankets currently. When we have our own place and can install a real clothesline, then I can hang anything and everything. Until then, I have to just do what I can.
Now, go warm those frozen fingers around a nice cup of hot cocoa!
This is only my second load of laundry since the weather got cold. The first load – undies and socks mostly (and, yes, I have a huge number of each) – hung easily on the line in my sunroom since they don’t weigh much, even when wet. I just realized that I am about out of jeans – thus the need for doing a load of those. Unfortunately, the line in the sunroom is not strong enough to hold these.
I guess using a dryer for one or two loads is not the worst thing in the world. Perhaps I will just bite the bullet and do that tomorrow. I should be good for another four to six weeks before needing to address this issue again.
The cocoa sounds good – I may just do that!