How to Make Plarn – Plastic Yarn Tutorial

Make your own Plarn! What exactly is plarn? It is plastic yarn made from grocery bags. Crocheting and knitting with plarn is a fun and eco-friendly way to reduce environmental waste and make durable totes and baskets for free. Using plarn as an alternative to yarn in any crochet pattern or knitting pattern will be sure to create a heavy duty masterpiece.

Directions:

1. Flatten out clean grocery bags onto a flat surface. Fold bag in half; lining up handles.

2. Cut off the handles and the bottom of the bag, making sure to hold bag flat and tight for even cuts.

3. Take the remainder of bag and fold it over again in the same direction.

4. Keep folding over until the width is about 2 inches.

5. Cut the folded piece into one inch strips, discarded the last section which will mostly likely be too small. This creates loops which will be connected together.

6.Take two loops and bring one loop through the other, pulling the ends tight.

7. Repeat with remaining loops. Repeat as needed.

Once you have all your loops connected, you could roll the plarn into a ball, or use a paper towel roll to wrap the plarn to reduce the chance of knotting.

Follow any favorite crochet or knitting pattern and enjoy your new eco-friendly product!

NOTE: When choosing bags for your plarn, consider color and texture. Keeping your plarn consistent to achieve a good overall effect. When considering color, think about combining different color plastic bags to create a pattern of color, random color changes, or even create a look that doesn’t reflect plastic at all. For example, brown plastic bags can look like raffia and not at all like the original material when crocheted.

Also, while the pattern calls for a certain size crochet hook and a specific number of rows to stitch, there may be variation in your project due to the tightness of your stitches or the density of your plarn. Don’t feel like you have to follow the pattern to the letter. I would also recommend looser stitching. You will become easily frustrated with tight stitching. The number of rows in your project can differ from the pattern and it may be easier to use a larger crochet hook than recommended.

Overall, enjoy! This is a project an older child could also enjoy. Make baskets, totes, braided rugs, and so much more.

LOVE YOUR EARTH and REUSE, RE-PURPOSE and RECYCLE!