Hello crafters!

Spring is just around the corner and that means it is time to deep clean the house. One area that definitely needs tending to is the drawer in my kitchen that is overflowing with plastic bags. I try to use reusable bags when I can but we all know that it’s impossible to remember to actually bring those things into the store!

I can’t think of a better way to deal with all these bags than to make plarn. Aka plastic yarn 🙂

Turning your grocery bags into plarn is the perfect upcycle as you can crochet or knit yourself (or a friend) anything out of these bags that would have otherwise just been sitting around taking up space and making you feel bad.

Supplies you will need to make plarn

• Plastic grocery bags (any kind will work, I tried to get some different colours in my bag pile)
• Scissors

That’s all you need! I suppose I didn’t really need to make a list for that…

Start by folding your grocery bag into four the long way.

Cut strips about one inch wide from one end of the bag to the other.

Discard the strips that are unusable like the second strip from the left that has the handle hole in it.

For bags like this one with handles, simply cut of the end with the handles and start from there.

Once you have a good assortment of strips cut it is time to assemble the pieces into plarn!

Each strip that you have cut should open up into a loop. Take two loops and pull one loop through the other from the bottom. Then insert the same end back into itself like this:

Pull the loop tight to seal the join but be gentle so that you don’t rip the bag.

And voila! You have made your own plarn!

I use a 16mm hook to crochet with this plarn as it is fairly thick to work with. You can do so much with this upcycle! Make totes, hats, rugs, or even a new grocery bag made of grocery bags! Check back soon and I will show you how I used my plarn to make a super cool recycled swim bag 🙂

As always I would love to hear your comments, questions and ideas for using plarn in the comment section below. Or you can always email me at Mataya@MatayaMade.com

Happy crafting!