Irene

Hurricane Irene has pretty much shut down clothes hanging for a while here.  Our electric just shut down a few times, but it restarted - for now.  Good luck to all in Irene's path.  Hopefully, we'll all be hanging clothes again very soon.

Window hanging

Thanks to New York City photographer Leanna Staples for this picture of laundry hanging from a window.

Respect

Today, while removing my dry laundry from the line, I dropped one of my "American Flag" socks (socks with an  American Flag on them).  This got me to thinking - had I disrespected the flag?  What should I do?

As it turns out, clothing that contains an image of the flag should be treated as if it were a flag.  From the folks at ushistory.org:

 Are flags on T-shirts, ties, etc., really flags?

Yes. According to the Flag Code, a flag is anything "by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag."

So my sock flags are, effectively, actual flags.  Well, I accidentally dropped it.  What does that mean?  From the same folks:
 My flag touched the ground. Do I need to destroy it?

No. You should, of course, try to avoid having the flag touch the ground. But if it does, you should correct the situation immediately. If the flag has been dirtied, you should clean it by hand with a mild soap solution and dry it well before returning it to use.

I will interpret laundering the socks as being in the proper spirit of respect for the flag.

However, this leads to another question.  What should I do when the socks are too worn out to wear any longer?  The same folks have the answer:

 My flag is old and ready to be retired. What should I do?

Section 8k of the Flag Code states, "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." We recommend that you contact your local VFW Chapter and ask them for help properly disposing of your flag. And be sure to consider providing a small donation to them for their assistance. Or you can contact your local Elks Lodge (who created the idea of Flag Day, established officially by President Truman, himself a member of the Elks), the American Legion, or the Knights of Columbus. Some Boy Scout and Girl Scout troups also can provide this service.

When my socks are old and worn, I will bring them to my local VFW for burning.  I hope that this information - all an indirect result of today's laundry hanging - is useful.

Hang By Night

It was late, and I still had a comforter in the washer.  Tomorrow was a work day, and I was going in early.  I didn't want to let the wet comforter sit in the washer all night, but I didn't want to use the electric dryer either.  It was quite a dilemma, but I found a great solution.  I hung the comforter by moonlight.  I realize that it was not going to get dry over night.  However, it would air out, and would be on the line first thing in the morning.  When the day warmed up, I was ready.  The comforter was dry by early afternoon, and we were able to hang another load.

Lower East Side

Here's a link to a picture of how laundry was hung in the past:
Laundry hanging on the lower east side

Thanks to the tenement museum.

Clothes hanging around the world

Occasionally, we'll highlight clothes hanging from around the world.  Here is an interesting look at clothes hanging in Venice, Italy:
Clothes hanging in Venice

... or something else

Yes, the name of this blog is “Hanging Clothes”. However, there will be times when non-clothing items need to be hung to dry. This is actually very common. For example, many loads of laundry include sheets, pillow-cases, towels, etc. None of these items are clothing.

In spite spite of the name, we will not restrict ourselves to the topic of clothing hanging.  Pictured is an example of one of the diverse non-clothing items that may be found on a clothes-line.