The Plarn Project

I have been interested in plarn for sometime now, and finally found the motivation to explore this fun upcycled medium!
First I checked out a few of the crochet pages on Facebook to see if anyone had any good suggestions on how to get started, and was referred to a great site called Tina Dean Designs. After checking out all the fun designs and simple tutorial on her site I immediately got started by gathering a few supplies.

1. LOTS of plastic Bags. This is the largest bag Family Dollar has stuffed full of standard sized grocery bags.

2. A Pair of sharp scissors. I prefer a pair with long blades.

NEXT...

I started by folding my plastic bags lengthwise into quarters, then I cut that into 2 inch strips. I cut the handles off and stuffed them in another bag for recycling.

Once you unfold the strips you'll see each one is a large ring. I twisted them into a rope with rings at each end so you could see how they are attached in the picture, but this step is not necessary.

Pull the end of one loop through the end of another loop as shown in the picture.

THEN...
Take the end of the one that was pulled through, and pull it through the other end of itself as shown in this picture.
Pull the end tight (make sure the loops are sliding easily and not getting hung, they will rip)

Once you've pulled the knot tight it should look like this. >>>>>

Continue this process until you have enough plarn to create whatever item you wish! You can roll it into a ball to save for later, sell, or give as a gift to your crafty friends and family.







I decided to create some beach bags for my kids. I found that it was much easier to work with a larger metal hook so you don't have so much friction. I used an "N" hook and worked an improvised pattern from the bottom up.

The bag turned out well, but I decided to use it for wet laundry instead of giving it to the kids. My youngest is potty training so we have a lot of wet/dirty clothes that get rinsed out through out the day, so this washable bag is keeping that and the old wet wash rags and dish rags out of my dry hamper!
At the end of the day, I throw all the wet laundry in the machine, rinse the bag off with the water hose, and hang it from the swing set to dry.

Though this project has left with me an awesome upcycled utilitarian item, next time I'm going to make something PRETTY!

If you are interested in upcycling your plastic bags please email me at abchicdesign@gmail.com

-Stefanie