Upcycle Plastic Bags into Yarn

If you're anything like me, you have the best intentions to bring your mountain of reusable bags to the store every single time, and without fail, every single time you forget to bring them and end up using plastic bags instead.

This leaves me with a mountain of reusable and non-reusable bags!

Instead of using these bags for lunch or doggie duty before tossing them into a landfill, I discovered a method to upcycle and turn them into yarn. A girl can never have too many kinds of yarn, right? A few common plarn creations include bags, hats, sandals, baskets, and, my choice, rugs. Without further ado, I present:

How to Make Plarn

Materials:

• Plastic bags, the more the merrier
• Scissors
• A ruler or large coin

Procedure: 

1. Lay your plastic bag out flat. Tuck in the sides, fix the handles, smooth out any air.
2. Fold it in half, lining up the handles. Smooth out any air.
3. Fold it in half again. Smooth out any air.
4. Cut off the handles and bottom seam completely. Toss these scraps or keep for embellishments.
5. Measure out approx. one inch wide pieces and cut. Bigger is better than smaller but try to keep them even.
6. Take two of your pieces and undo them to reveal the loops you've created.
7. Lay out your first loop in an oval
8. Lay your second loop over the first loop, slightly skewed to the right.
9. Take the right edge of the inside (first) loop and bring it to the outside, to the right of the second loop.
10. Take the right edge of the inside (second) loop and bring it to the outside, to the right of the first loop.
11. Pull on the far ends of each loop
12. Adjust the knot if necessary.

This is between one and two bags worth of plarn.

Additional Tips:

• Beyond just sorting plarn by bag type, you can sort each bag type into two balls: printed and non printed. This way you can crochet with solid or mixed colors as your heart desires!
• Hold the plastic bag against the floor close to where you're cutting to keep the bag from slipping
• If your knot doesn't tighten all the way, just loosen it up and tug at it again.
• If it looks too small, it is! Toss these before they break in the middle of your masterpiece.

Let me know how your plarn turns out, I'd love to see pictures. I hear some areas even get bright colored bags like reds. I wonder how nice it would look to use pure white or black garbage bags, or if they'll stretch too much and break.

Next up, making a rug for the back patio with my new supplies.

WIP Up The Week: June 10

Hey guys! As another weekend comes to a close, I'd like to introduce my weekly Monday series, WIP Up The Week. I'll share my WIPs, short for Works In Progress, both in the effort to keep this entity transparent and to keep myself inspired to always improve what is (or will be) in my Etsy shop. Here's what I started this week.

Roll-Up Star Hook Case

In all fairness, the crocheting is done for this piece. I'm going to pick up pins and possibly a spray bottle tomorrow to block it before I attach the chain tie. The first couple rows are a little uneven before I noticed the pattern was wrong. It's for personal use only.

Ruffle Scarf

I did this up quick in February but I think I need go back and add more ruffles, and I'm going to untie the ends and sew them properly shut so the scarf looks nice from all angles!

First Socks

I started these socks in early February-ish, but classes got hectic so I dropped crocheting for a while. Now it's time to finish them! These will be for personal use only, since they'll likely be less-than-perfect.

50s Inspired Evening Cape

This has been in the works since January when I first knew I wanted to open an Etsy shop. I finally drew up the designs and started making it along with a pattern that will be released some time after the product is for sale. I'll also be looking for pattern testers in the near future to help catch any mistakes or unclear writing. Since this is a yarn-intensive pattern, I will gladly give you the finalized copy of the pattern as well as a discount off anything in my shop.

Plarn Patio Rug

Spoiler! I'm going to make a rug for the back patio of our new town house out of plarn. I give you one guess what my next post is about.


To-Do Before Etsy Grand Opening

• Complete my Ravelry yarn stash
• Find Pattern Testers for 50s Cape
• Make Discount Code for Testers
• Basic Stitches Youtube tutorials (Ch, Sc, Dc, Tr)
• Make Fingerless Gloves
• Probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting because it's almost three in the morning
• Pick an offiial Grand Opening Date
• Choose items to reveal as the countdown to the Grand Opening
• Announce Etsy Grand Opening Countdown Event on personal social media accounts
• GRAND OPENING SALE - ALL ITEMS x% OFF FIRST WEEK (C'mon, that'd be a spoiler.)

I can't believe how much there is to do before I can so much as make a formal announcement! My other half is the only soul who knows what I'm planning, and even he doesn't know how all-out I'm going by setting up the social media, complete with a couple posts each, etc. It is going to be so worth it! I just hope I don't lose too much time with the impending move to another city.