the amazing plarn tote

you may be asking yourself… ‘what the heck is plarn’. a week ago I would have asked myself the same thing.

I decided last week I wanted to find more uses for plastic grocery bags. I know how to fuse and sew them into totes, but we have soooooo many. they are literally bursting out of the bag they are in. which brought me to plarn. yarn made from plastic grocery bags. Of course I love the crochet so this plarn concept put all kinds of ideas into my head. I figured a great place to start was by making myself a grocery/market tote.

here are some photos to show you how to make the plarn.

1. flatten the bag
2. fold the bag in half long ways
3. fold it in half long ways again
4. cut the handles and the bottom off (I put these pieces aside, thinking I might be able to use it as stuffing for something else)
5. cut the bag into thin strips (too thin and they will break, too thick and they are hard to use)
6. open the strips into loops
7. connect them together (this knot is hard to explain, but for the older folks out there… remember jelly bracelets? it’s how you connected those together.
8. pull until you get a small knot (don’t pull too hard or you’ll break the plastic)

then I went in search of a good crochet tote pattern. I found this pattern that I really liked. I did make some changes, but not many.

here is the finished tote. it’s VERY sturdy and heavy duty. I can’t see myself making another one any time soon though. the plastic is pretty hard to work with. my fingers will probably be numb for another week. I suggest using a larger crochet hook. it would probably be easier to work with. I used an ‘H’ hook which is pretty small.