Plarn Tutorial

Yes, Plarn.  As in “plastic yarn”.  As in “upcycled plastic grocery bags”.  As in “Good for the world Better than ending up in a landfill Cheaper than buying those reusable grocery bags that fall apart in 15 minutes anyway”.   Dig deep into your heart of hearts.  You know you want to make some!  Here’s how:

1. Lay out the grocery bag like this:

(Yes, mine’s from Staples.  It’s difficult to find second hand compressed air.  Plus, going to Staples is the best Date Night ever.  Just sayin’).

2. Fold the bag in half long ways, then in half again:

3. Cut off the head and the butt.

Don’t throw those pieces away!  How green would you be if you did all this work to upcycle your plastic bags if you just tossed the scraps into a landfill?  RECYCLE those bad boys!  There’s no rule that says you can only recycle an in-tact bag.  Save one of your bags to keep the scraps in.  Really.  Do it for me.  Do it for your grandchildren.  Do it for that cute little girl in the grape juice commercials.

4. Slice up the rest of the bag into 1/2 inch thick strips.

5. Unfold two loops and lay them out with one overlapping the other a bit, like this:

6. Flashback to elementary school & pretend you’re hooking your super trendy jelly bracelets together. (Pull the bottom loop over the top one & then back through itself).

7. Keep doing that over and over until you run out of loops.  One plastic bag makes a ball of plarn about this big:

This was enough to do 5 rows of 20 single crochets with a G hook.

Super cool and groovy, right?  You’re going to make some today, right?

Oh, and just so you know.  Once you get the hang of this, feel free to layer those bags and save yourself some time.  I’m able to do stacks of 6 bags quite easily.  Also, pay attention to the thickness of the plastic.  As a general rule, the thinner the plastic, the thicker you’ll want to cut your strips.  Once you crochet them (or macrame, or knit, or whatever you’re going to do) they’ll even out, so don’t worry if some of your strips are 1/2 inch thick and others are closer to an inch or more.  Enjoy!  })i({

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