Patric Richardson entertains in a book about LAUNDRY, with info both whimsical and informative.

 

Patric finds joy in a common chore because he knows some tricks of the trade. He admits to being a little weird and eccentric: Asked for the book Dress for Success for his eleventh birthday, voted best dressed in eighth grade and in high school, and majored in merchandising and textiles at the University of Kentucky. He calls himself a Laundry Evangelist and markets cleaning products and tips on his website: https://laundryevangelist.com/ If you want to learn how to un-shrink a sweater, he’s your guy!

“When it comes to cleaning, our clothes are bossy,” Patric declares. “Dry-clean only. Wash in cold water. Handwash. Dry flat. Spotwash only. Blah. blah, blah.”

 

Advice: What he loves about laundry

  • β€œWash everythingβ€”and I mean everythingβ€”on warm. Yes, your darks, your delicates, even if you use a detergent designed for cold water.”  Β 37

 

  • You’re going to wash everything on the express cycle, sometimes called the fast, quick, super-speed cycle, which β€œtakes your clothes through an eight-minute wash and an eight-minute rinse (plus the rest and the spin)β€”plenty of time to get your clothes clean.”  Clothing with beads or sequins? Turn inside out.Β  Β 38, 40

 

  • β€œLike hangers, a disco ball is a must in every laundry room.”  142

 

What he hates:

  • Patric abhors dryer sheets and fabric softeners more than he hates squirrels and mosquitoes. Why? Because you’re β€œcoating your clothes with silicone and cutting their absorbency by up to eighty percent.”

 

  • He also hates dry-cleaning (because of harsh chemicals)Β  Β  Β  “Unnecessary to dry-clean,” he says.

 

***

 

Patric quotes Ruth Moose, poet and novelist:

β€œThere is joy in clean laundry. All is forgiven in water, sun and air.”

 

He even channels Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth, β€œOut, damn’d spot! Out, I say.” In Laundry Love, Patric provides 3-4 pages of surefire ways to eliminate spots and stains.

 

He advocates line drying when possible:

And he maintains that hanging out laundry can be a courageous act:

β€œDuring four years of the Revolutionary War isΒ  believed that Long Island resident Ann Smith Strong served as a spy for the Culper Ring, which provided news of the British military’s movements in New York City. . . to General Washington. This mother of nine cleverly signaled the arrival whereabouts of another spy by hanging out a black petticoat and a varying number of handkerchiefs to dry. Who knew laundry could be so exciting?”     54

 

Blogger friend Liesbet and I have both benefited from line drying

Discover more of Liesbet’s adventures in Colombia, South America beyond line-dryingΒ HERE!

 

Our backyard clothesline years ago in Killarney Shores:

 

 

Mystery of the Missing Socks

Patric quips, β€œIt is not true that the drier eats socks. The truth is that it eats only the mate to your favorite pair.”

 

 

 

Ironing

Teaser: Ironing

The New Yorker: Farley Katz

 

Time to Pump Some Iron (or Blow Off Some steam), a chapter in which Patric expounds on the joys of ironingΒ 

β€œI find it soothing to take something wrinkled and make it smooth. It feels anticipatory.”Β  Β  ~ Alexandra Stoddard, interior designer and authorΒ Β Β  60

 

β€œIroning β€œ by Vicki FeaverΒ  https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/ironing/

β€œIroning after Midnight” by Marsha Truman CooperΒ Β  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48564/ironing-after-midnight

β€œIroning their Clothes” by Julia AlvarezΒ  An homage to loved onesΒ  http://samslackeypoems.blogspot.com/2008/04/ironing-their-clothes-by-julia-alvarez.html

 

A St. Patrick’s Day homage to laundry and the Irish Washerwoman, a blogpost including my Grandma Longenecker’s recipe for darn good homemade lye soap and an Irish jig, appropriate this week’s celebration of β€œthe wearing of the green.” You can find both HERE.

 


 

What about doing laundry do you love? hate?

Do you have a love or hate relationship with ironing?

Share your tricks about removing stains.

 

Here’e to St. Patrick’s Day and the wearing of the clean green!

Book available for pre-order: BUYΒ  BOOKΒ  HERE!

Thank you!