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Tag: plarn

Little Plarn Christmas Bag

Cindy6 Comments

Time to kick of the holiday crafting with this little plarn Christmas bag I crocheted. Isn’t it adorable and guess what — its free to make. All you need is a few recycled plastic bags to create this cute little striped gift bag. So grab about 3 red, green, and a white plastic bag and cut them into plarn. For this project you want your plarn to be real thin so I cut my strips only about 1/2 inch wide.

With the built-in handle, you have a ready made gift bag perfect for that special little gift item or you can slip a gift card into your recycled plastic gift bag. My inspiration was Kristy’s ornament pattern as I tried doing it in plarn (plastic bag yarn) and it came out way too big. So I just modified the top and added the handle for a closure.

My little plarn Christmas bag is 6 inches wide by 3 inches tall. The handle is 3 inches long. Using a H crochet hook, I basically followed the pattern by Kristy until row 18 which was my last row to work. I marked the center of my bag by laying it down flat. Sc around in each stitch of this last row — at the center chain 3 and skip 2 stitches to create your hole for the handle. Then Sc in each stitch around to other center mark for the handle, chain 22 for handle. Skip 2 stitches and Sc into last stitches of row and finish off.

Volia — Your recycled Christmas gift bag is complete. You also can come and join the fun over at Retro Housewife’s Green Holiday Carnival that I am participating in this weekend.

Newspaper Bags Upcycled into a Water Bottle Holder

Cindy4 Comments

Time for a new recycled plastic bag project. Things have been a little hectic lately and I haven’t been able to craft and post new patterns as frequently as I would like. But this week I was able to get some plastic newspaper bags cut up into plastic bag yarn. I just love this beautiful shade of pink salmon that my local library gets their newspaper delivered in. For those people who may have not read my fat bottom bag post, these beautiful bags are being saved by my local library. I pick them up about twice a week and it’s a wonderful resource for me to be able to obtain unique and colorful bags for my recycled crafting projects.

I actually counted the number of bags I used in this crocheting project. It was 29 plastic bags. I cut them about 1 inch wide and interconnected them together using the loop method. Each newspaper plastic bag results in about 17-18 loops if anyone is interested. Anyway this water bottle holder holds a 32 oz Nalgene bottle or a store bought 1 liter bottle of water. Because these plastic bags are a bit thinner I used a K crochet hook rather than my standard N hook. The smaller hook provided a tighter stitch and a sturdier water bottle holder.

Please enjoy the free crochet pattern below and happy crafting to all!

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Recycled Newspaper Bags Water Bottle Holder Pattern

Material Needed: 29 salmon pink newspaper plastic bags cut into 1 inch strips and connect into plarn.
Plastic newspaper sleeve bags were used in this project. Cut the strips and assemble
just as you do in this plarn making tutorial.

Hook:
Metal K (6.5 mm) crochet hook

Water Bottle Holder Size:
Bag – 5-1/2″ wide, 7″ long, with 4″ round bottom
Strap 40″ long & 2″ wide
Fits water bottles that are 32 oz reusable bottles or 1 liter plastic bottles

With pink plarn, Ch 4, Sl St to join in first st of chain to form ring.

Recycled Trick or Treat Bag

Cindy10 Comments

Halloween is just around the corner and I’ve been saving plastic orange newspaper bags for quite awhile so I could crochet a recycled trick or treat bag. I just got it finished in time and am here to share the project with everyone.

This trick or treat bag features a milk jug base so its nice and sturdy. With a sharp pair of scissors, just cut around the bottom of the milk jug as shown in the photo below. The jug I used had a line around the base so it made it easy to cut it evenly around the bottom. By recycling a plastic milk jug, you create a trick or treat basket that will hold its shape and your candy nicely.

Once you finish crocheting the bag, you can always add more embellishments like eyes and a mouth to the project. I took a few pieces of VCR tape and created a quick face for my trick or treat bag. So this concludes my Halloween project for the year. Enjoy the free crochet pattern below — Happy Halloween!

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Trick or Treat Plastic Plarn Basket

Materials needed: One ball of orange plastic bags cut into strips 3/4 inch wide and interlocked
to create a ball of plarn – (Approx. 20-25 bags)
Small amount of green plastic bags cut into plarn for strap
One plastic milk jug

Here is my picture tutorial on how to make yarn from recycled plastic bags.

Hook: K (6.5 mm) metal crochet hook

Description: Orange Trick or Treat Basket –
Basket measures 9 inches across front and 6-1/2 inches tall with 14 inch handle strap.

Directions:
Ch 3 and join with a Sl St to form a ring.

Fat Bottom Bag from Recycled Bread Bags

Cindy15 Comments


I have been working for several weeks now on a custom-ordered recycled bread bag project. The client wanted a fat bottom bag (FBB) crocheted from bread bags. What made the project unique was that the bread bags are from her husband’s bread factory. She collected bread bags from the factory’s floor of damaged products and mailed them to me to crochet her FBB.

I cut the bread bags into strips about 1/2 inch wide and created plarn using the same method I do for plastic grocery bags. I didn’t count the number of bags used but I believe its around 50 bread bags. I used the FBB English pattern here. I added the flap and button option which is detailed at my plastic fat bottom post link which also has the English chart link as the original pattern is written in Portuguese.

Working with the bread bags was much harder than the thin newspaper bags that I used in my first plarn FBB. The bread bags are so stiff making it difficult to do the gathering portion of the bag. But I was able to get it accomplished and lined the bag for my special order customer.

Here are some photos of the project as it progressed.

Beginning of crocheted shell of FBB


Shell and lining completed

The final photo shows the flap with the button sewn in place. I am excited for my customer to receive her custom-made repurposed bread bags. I hope she enjoys her unique recycled fat bottom purse.



Recycled Water Bottle Carrier

Cindy7 Comments


I am sharing a reader’s designs and crochet pattern for a plastic water bottle carrier. These water bottle carriers are made from recycled plastic bags and have been fashioned into some amazing designs by Cecile Chi.

Cecile has allowed me to reprint her pattern and photos in this post. Her designs are beautiful and shows how plastic trash can truly be transformed into treasures. While she doesn’t give all the details for creating the special designs shown in the photos, her beautiful creations do provide us with numerous ideas for crocheting our own unique designs with recycled plastic bags.
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Recycled Plastic Water Bottle Carrier Pattern By Cecile Chi

Directions for a carrier for a half-liter water bottle:
Cut strips across the bag, 5/8 to 3/4 inches wide to create your plarn (plastic bag yarn)

Beginning the carrier
Begin by making the base, a flat circle with one end of the yarn, make a slip knot loop
Use size F and G crochet hooks as directed
Ch 3