I admit that this idea was not my own, but it certainly did spawn several others. That's why it is number one. I found the idea on YouTube with this video: Plastic Bag Mats for Homeless Tutorial. This is another good video: Recycled Shopping Bags Crocheted into Waterproof Bedrolls. (The main difference between the two is simply the size of the strips into which the bags are cut. This will determine what size hook you will need to do the crocheting.)
After watching these videos, my mind was churning. I knew I could do this, and we had an ever increasing pile of bags bombarding our kitchen door making it difficult to find shoes or even take the garbage out. Then, I saw this video: Recycle 5 Plastic Bags into a Handbag. That was what I had to do! My husband needed a smaller, easier to carry diaper bag with straps to go over his neck and shoulder for taking the kids to the zoo. That would be my first project.
I noticed that the mat/bedroll tutorials and the handbag videos used different methods for cutting the bags into crochet yarn. The first cut the bags into loops that you easily slipped together and crocheted as a double string. The second cut the bags into one long single string which was more like a ball of yarn, so I opted for that one.
I don't know how they made a handbag out of only 5 plastic bags as I passed that mark before I was half way up the first side of my bag. Below is a picture of the finished product. It took me about two weeks of free time to complete.
As you can see, I have a lot of knots and loose ends sticking out. (Remember, I used the bag cut into a single strand method instead of the bag cut into several loops method.) But, this is my first project crocheting with plastic grocery bags, and it does the job.
Important Things to Remember While Crocheting with Plastic
- Don't pull too hard. The plastic strips will stretch and break easily. Also, help any knots you're working on through the loops.
- Your finished product will be stretchy. So, if you put a 3'x3' anvil in a 2'x2' bag (can you tell I watched cartoons in the 70s?), your bag will look like a 3'x3' anvil and the straps will stretch down to your feet (if they haven't torn through the plastic or your arms) while the anvil is in the bag. ; )
- Any writing or patterns on the bag will make a cool marbled effect. (See my photo above where the bags had blue writing and in some cases red logos.)
- If you have a knot, in your previous row, try to stick your hook right through the center of it when you go for the loop closest to it. That will help anchor it to whatever you're crocheting and help keep it from flipping in and out and drawing attention to it.
- It's nice to crochet with a single ball of string, but when you crochet with loops (the first method of cutting strips out of bags mentioned at the beginning of this entry), you don't have the loose ends to hide and/or stick out.
- Crocheted plastic can be a bit scratchy against the skin. If you are making straps that will go against the neck, for example, you might want to consider adding a soft pad or liner of some sort for comfort.
As of writing this, I also found this video (How to Recycle Plastic Bags into Purses) in which they also cut the bags into a single strand, but, they take the scraps and use them for stuffing for other projects like stuffed animals. How great is that?!
And that wasn't the only thing I crocheted with my plastic grocery bags, and it certainly wasn't the only thing I created with them either ... but I think I'll save those for yet another entry.
Sincerely,
Migraine Mama
