Here are my own experiences, drawn from two months' worth of drying in Pittsburgh's unpredictable weather. (Remember to check with your town or home owners association to see if line drying is prohibited or limited.)

• This was not the best summer for line drying, due to cool, damp weather. Once I made the mistake of leaving my clothespin bag out on consecutive high humidity days. The wooden pins got moldy. I ran them through the washer with bleach. While a bit stained, they are fine.

• The things I feared would not dry well, did. They include shirts with spandex in them. These dried quickly and looked and smelled great. Items that do not dry well include cotton pique polo shirts. They are dense and need lots of sun.

• You'll see spots you didn't know you had. Faint underarm stains, a rogue spaghetti sauce dot -- easy to overlook when you're folding things quickly out of the dryer. They stand out in the bright sun. On the other hand, when the sun is brilliant, colors and whites brighten.

• An umbrella dryer is great for managing drying in Pittsburgh: You can spin it to catch the sun as it moves through the sky, dodging the region's fickle clouds.

Even with some clouds, if there's a good wind, hang 'em high. Clothes take longer to dry, but they'll get there.

• Line drying is indeed a time saver. I doubted this mantra of diehard line dryers, but it's true. You can wash four loads or so at a time, hang them up and leave them all day. At day's end, take them down -- voila! No multiple trips to the laundry room.

Don't fear clothes being stiff. Some are, but they quickly soften. In fact, it's true that some things dry so crisply on the line that they appear to have been ironed. I read that this is because moisture pulls down through the garment, smoothing fibers. Some who line dry take down towels and jeans when they are slightly damp and finish them in the dryer to avoid stiffness. I haven't done this, but I do sometimes revert to the dryer for towels. •

I spare the neighborhood, and myself, the undies, except for boxer shorts, which, judging from pedestrian traffic at the local mall, offend no one anyway. "The Clothesline" details how women used to hide personal items in pillowcases, and pin them only on lines that were then hidden by other laundry.•

For a true dried-outdoors smell, don't use heavily perfumed detergents.

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.