There is more to recycling plastic than dumping them in the bins outside the superstores. You can make plarn! “Plarn” is plastic yarn made from crinkly plastic grocery sacks. When crocheted up it makes a durable material that is strong, colorful, and easy to clean.
In the next weeks I will be posting patterns so you can make plarn bags of your own. They are cute for handbags but are strong enough to carry groceries and books as well. My little sister uses hers as a gym bag and my older sister uses hers to lug all of her heavy textbooks. In the meantime you need to be collecting all of the plastic sacks that you can as it takes more than 30 to make a purse big enough to carry groceries. If you’re already on the resusable grocery bag bandwagon, there are probably a ton of bags that friends and family would be happy to give away.
The lightweight grocery bags that you get from Walmart, HyVee, Walgreens, etc, are the best to use for this project. Thick plastic like Gap bags won’t work. Target bags are a little tricky but are worth using for the red color that they contribute to the finished product. I’ve put together a mini-tutorial for preparing your plastic bags:
Start by folding in the sides and smoothing the bag out flat, as shown.
Fold a few times, as my lovely mother demonstrates here.
Cut the handles off of the bag,
and then cut the remainder of the bag into 1″ “tubes.”
Link the tubes together lark’s head knot style.
Mom and I had a little plarn party of our own… here’s me buried in plastic. I’m getting plarn ready so I can design new purse patterns to share with you. Come back in the next few weeks for your free plarn bag patterns. Stockpile all of the plarn you can, and a size “J” crochet hook.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
did you ever post a bag pattern? I don’t see one.
Thanks.
OMG!! This is just so incredible. I’ve always wondered about these things —- why not reuse them rather than (or before) recycling. Reusing is higher than recycling.
Thanks so much for the great “plarn” tutorial.
I just tried making plarn for the first time. It has turned out pretty weak. It breaks easily. I’ve tried Joann’s and Fred Meyer’s bags. Is it all like this or is it the bags I’m using? Would cutting thicker strips help? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
Thicker, evenly cut strips are the easiest to work with. It’s not important to have tight knots, so there is no need to pull too hard. The strips will break on occasion, just work the knots in to your work.
Hope this helps!
This is probably a better way than the way I came up with making plarn…
I had the same idea, what to do with them Darn plastic bags you get from the store. In sweden we have slightly thicker and not as easily breakable plastic bags so having them hold isn’t really an issue.
My way of making it was cut long strips and melt them together. (I used a flatiron that I was about to throw away anyhow) only problem is finding the right temprature and you couldn’t set it on my flat iron.
This seem more usefull.
Other things you can use your Plarn to are bathroom carpet. shower curtains, maybe a raincoat? Now I decided to knit a dress, but I’m not very good at knitting but I’ll see in the end wether or not it’ll be one. I might try your way of making plarn seem to be less time consuming.
I’m interested in trying this with a knifty knitter – bags would go very quickly if the plarn will work! Many years ago I made a welcome mat out of bread bags, it lasted for years!
Hello!
I’ve been a “reuser” and crafter for most of my life (more than half a century!), and I love discovering plarn! Since part of my contribution to my kids’ dance camps in the summer is putting together gift bags for the faculty, I’m always on the lookout for unique containers. This year it’s gift totes made of plarn.
I’ve been able to use any and all kinds of plastic bag, adusting the strip width according to thickness of the bag; i.e., Target bags are great, just cut them at 7/8″ instead of 1″. Fred Meyer bags are cut a bit over 1″ for strength.
I would suggest not cutting off the handles – if you start from the bottom, cut very near the seam. Use a clear straight edge and a rotary cutter, and work your way to the top of the bag. It’s okay to have a bit of unevenness in the last strip, just make sure the uneven part is next to a full part when tying the knot.
I’ve been experimenting with different designs and color combinations, which is great fun – one tote is modeled after a designer purse!
Good luck with your designs, I’ll be checking back to see them!
I’ve been anxious to try one of these patterns. I have plenty of bags. So here goes!!
Thanks for the tutorial. I wondered how to make the plarn so that I could crochet it. I have seen the patterns, but did not know how to cut the plastic bags and put them together. This is great!!
I have made several bags from the plarn. I found that cutting the strips about 1 1/2 inches is best for most of the grocery bags I get. I shop at Kroger, Save-A-Lot, Walmart and Dollar General. The Kroger bags are very hard to work with. Some are really thick and others are so thin you tear them when you link the together. You just have to work with them on several items and get the feel of the different bags. So far I’ve made 2 rugs and 5 totes. One I made to carry those 30 egg trays from the grocery. It can hold 3 and safely carry them home. It can also be used for books.
would love to see more on these, do you have more pictures of them ?
Thank you, Thank You. This is the first pattern I’ve seen for left over plastic bags that I’ve seen. Very excited about trying this.