I shared last month that I was working on a new crocheted recycled tote bag. I call this recycled bag my harvest tote bag. I used mainly white retail bags for the tote but added orange and black bags to create a Halloween harvest themed tote.
As you can imagine, orange and black plastic bags are hard to come by. So with such few of these bags available, I was only able to use them sparely in crocheting this recycled tote bag project. I used the free recycled grocery tote pattern to crochet the project. Just follow the original pattern with the following changes. The harvest stripes were crocheted with one round of black plarn followed by four rounds with orange plarn and then one more round using black plarn. My plarn (plastic bag yarn) is made by
I started crocheting a new plastic bag aka plarn project. I am using one of my original plastic bag tote patterns to crochet this bag. The pattern features a single crochet base so it’s nice and sturdy for groceries or other such needs.
I still have plenty of old plastic bags on hand but I don’t collect as any as I used to. Many areas and stores don’t use the thinner plastic retail bags any longer. This ball of plastic bag yarn was made by cutting the plastic retail sacks in 1 inch strips using the looping method.
Here is my progress so far in the photo below.
Over 13 year ago I created this clothes pin bag pattern crocheted from recycled plastic bags. I haven’t worked the pattern for several years and decided to make the clothes pin bag for an upcoming charity auction. There is just something special to me to use one of my original pattern to create something new and useful. Here is my latest recycled bag!
The free recycled plastic bag clothes pin pattern can be found here. I used my trusty N (9 mm) crochet hook to work the body of the bag. I did use a new soft touch K crochet hook to work the trim around the opening as I found it easier on my hands. By using the smaller hook, it provides a nice finished look to the opening.
As warmer weather is approaching, maybe you are hanging your clothes out to dry on the line. If so you might need a peg bag. What better way to recycled plastic retail bags than to make yourself a nice handy recycled bag to hold your clothes pins.
As always, enjoy and happy crocheting to all!
Back this month to share my new recycled bag project. Here is my pink cabled plarn purse crocheted with recycled newspaper sacks.
This project was crocheted using a plarn pattern that I created back in 2012. The original free pattern can be found here in which I used recycled plastic bags and some regular Red Heart yarn for the trim and strap. This new purse is crocheted entirely of recycled plastic bags. I have a picture tutorial on how to make plastic bag yarn from these newspaper plastic sleeves here.
Many people always ask me “How many bags does it take to make this?” Well, it all depends but my estimate is that you will need at least
Got plastic bags? Want to make a cute little shoulder bag? Well grab your crochet hook and those bags and lets crochet a mini shoulder bag purse out of those plastic sacks.
This recycled crafting project used about 15 brown Safeway retail sacks, cut 1 inch wide and assembled using the looping method to create plarn. The finished purse measures 6.5 inches wide by 5 inches tall with a 36 inch long strap. The strap can be knotted as shown for a shorter strap or kept longer for wearing across the body.
Here is free mini shoulder bag pattern.
I crocheted this messenger book bag from recycled plastic Safeway bags. People ask me all the time how many bags it takes to crochet different projects of mine. I did a calculation on this project as I crocheted it. I found that I used about 3 bags for two full rounds on the crocheted body of the bag. Therefore I used about 39 bags to crochet the main body of this book bag. Overall I recycled about 60 plastic bags to crochet the messenger book bag.
I cut my plarn about 1 inch wide using the looping method to create my plastic bag yarn.
I crocheted 26 rows in half double crochet (HDC) before starting the flap. For the flap, I crocheted 12 rows in HDC before starting the decreases for the tapered flap. I crocheted a total of 25 rows and then added a edging of single crochet stitching around the edges of the flap. By adding the single crochet stitches, it helps even out the edges and makes for a smooth finish to the flap.
I crocheted my strap even on 6 stitches wide for a 35 inch long strap.
The original crochet pattern for the messenger bag is found here. It’s a free plarn crochet pattern and I just tweaked it a bit to make this smaller book bag of 14″ wide by 11.5″ long. The original crochet pattern makes a
Just finished up crocheting this recycled plastic bag wine holder. It used about 40 salmon-colored recycled newspaper bags made into plarn aka plastic bag yarn. I added a few white plastic retail bags for the stripe.
This particular recycled bag project was crocheted using my free Japanese knot pattern that I first published in 2015. If you are not familiar with a Japanese knot, it is a closure that features two handles. One handle is shorter than the other so you can pull the longer handle through the shorter as a quick and unique closure. I used a K crochet hook for this bag as I wanted a smaller tote bag for a wine bottle holder. My finished size following the original pattern with a K hook is 11 inches tall by 9 inches wide at top.
Here is a photo of the tote bag without the wine bottle.
Here is a basket that was crocheted using plastic bag yarn for the project material. I used the Lily original basket pattern done in cotton for this recycled bag project. I chained 28 with plarn (plastic bag yarn) to start the smaller basket version of this pattern using a K (6.5) crochet hook.
Following the general pattern design, I crocheted each side to about 6 inches wide before working the fold line on each side by working in the back loops only (BLO). For the base, I chained 19 with the plastic bag yarn and worked even on 18 stitches for 17 rows. My base piece was just a bit wider than the sides but this worked out just right for placing the base inside the basket. With wrong sides together, I then crocheted single crochet stitch from the outside through both thicknesses evenly along the sides aligning the corners together to secure the base to the basket.
Here is a photo of the bottom of my crocheted basket.
Once done, I folded over the top of the basket about 2 inches. This recycled craft project used about
Introducing a recycled plastic crocheted wine bottle holder. I have wanted to create a wine bottle cozy using plastic bags for a long time now. It’s one of those things that I keep wanting to crochet and write up the free pattern to share for years. Well, I finally got the project done.
The crocheted wine holder holds a 750 ml bottle of wine easily and even a 1.5 L can be slipped into the plarn cozy.
Along with the free crochet pattern, here is my plarn wine bottle holder.
Plarn Wine Bottle Holder Pattern
Wine Bottle Holder Size: 10″ tall with 3-1/2 across bottom
Hook:
Metal “K” (6.5 mm) US size crochet hook
Materials: 14 plastic bags cut into 1 inch wide plarn
Piece of ribbon or strand of plarn for top closure
Directions:
With plarn, Ch 4, Sl St to join in first st of chain to form ring. Holder is worked in the round without turning unless directed to do so.
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