Clothespins

Not many people enjoy using a clothesline anymore. With work schedules, weather and the conveniences of an electric or gas dryer most people just don’t see the point of a clothesline. However, there are a few of us that have returned to using a clothesline and actually enjoy it. There is nothing like the feel or smell of climbing into bed with fresh line dried crisp cotton sheets. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still use my electric dryer and have no plans of disposing of it. Lets face it, a polo shirt hung up to dry on the line just doesn’t have that nice snuggly soft feel to it. But there is one thing that really grates me about using my clothesline and that is the poor quality of the clothespins. Plastic clothespins degrade and become brittle very quickly due to the UV rays of the sun. Newer wooden clothespins are absolutely junk. They spring apart in a flash, hold virtually no weight greater than a dishcloth and are splintery. If you do happen upon some older clothespins (in your mothers stash or at a yard sale) you will notice immediately the difference in the type of wood, strength of the spring and the weight they will hold. I found out the reason for this while we were at the Mother Earth News Fair last week. As of 3 years ago there is only one company left in the United States that still manufactures wooden clothespins. All others have been outsourced to China. (Sound familiar?) The Vermont Clothespin Co still manufactures wooden clothespins and they are proud of it. They use locally harvested maple and beech wood, brass coated springs, hand-make each pin and hold a hefty price tag at $25 for 16 pins. Sixteen pins won’t even hang a half load of laundry. While at the fair there was a clothespin rep that sold Australian designed pins marketed as Hills brand clothes pegs. (Clothesline drying is the norm in Australia)  Yes they are still manufactured in China but they are sturdy, molded plastic with a stainless steel spring, have a 2 year warranty and are resistant to UV rays. A box is $25 for 50 pins (I can’t believe a good clothespin runs 50 cents each).  They have 3 notches for varying thickness of fabric and are pretty. After all, hanging laundry out in the breeze should be pretty. I am not thrilled that they are plastic but I guess I can’t have my cake and eat it too.