Recycle AND Craft at the Same Time! How to Make Plarn

"Plarn?"  Yes, plarn.  Plarn is plastic yarn, and it's a great way to recycle those plastic grocery bags.  You can even use it to make new bags so that you don't have to accept the plastic ones from the store any longer!  It's great for crocheting with, and I hear that knitters like it, too.

To make plarn, start with a plastic grocery bag from whatever store.  Flatten it out on a table, like so:

Now, fold the bag again and it will look like this:

One more fold and you have something that looks like this:

Now, remove the handles and the bottom seam of the folded bag.  You can toss those into the recycle bin provided by your store for used bags.

I like to fold this up another couple of times to make it really easy to cut into strips:

Now, just cut your folded up bag into pieces the width you desire.  Some people like to cut them into about 1" strips, but I prefer to use strips that are only about 1/2" wide.  Whatever floats your boat, people!

Now you have a pile of little, folded-up rounds of plastic to play with.

Unfold one piece and lay it out on your work surface, like so:

Now, I hope I can explain this properly without being too confusing.  What you want to do is to thread your next piece of plastic through the first one, then pull one end of that second piece through the other end of the same piece.  This creates a knot tying the two pieces together.  I find it's easier to do this by holding the second piece of yarn as shown below.  Just pull the piece you are holding between your thumb and fingers right through the part that is draped around your wrist, and it ties itself right up.

Gently tug on both pieces to tighten the knot.  If one piece breaks, don't worry about it. Just tie it back together and keep going.

Some people like to do up a big batch of plarn at once and wrap it into balls, just like yarn.  I don't do this, because the darned stuff slips and slides all over the place and it's a big pain in the you-know-where.  So I just loop together about 10 pieces at a time as I'm working.  You'll do whatever works for you, of course.

Now you can work with it just as though it were regular yarn.

I made this "hobo bag" using the free pattern provided by Lion Brand yarn located at http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/ckc-tote.html.  I think for the next one I'll adjust the pattern just a bit, because fabric made from plarn doesn't behave the same way as regular yarn and the bag is a bit more open than I would like to see it be.  But the verdict so far from all who have seen it is that it is the most awesome bag they have ever seen.  (Yes, I realize they could be blowing smoke up my butt, but I have chosen to believe that they are just individuals with a highly refined sense of what is awesome!)

I hope you have enjoyed my little photo essay on making plarn, and I'd love to see what you make out of yours!