Large Plastic Market Bag

This market bag was crocheted using a large plastic Q crochet hook. It’s my first project crocheting with plastic bag yarn aka plarn and using the extra large plastic hook. I must say that it makes my bag much lighter and the stitches more airy. I also didn’t use as many plastic bags as I normally do to finish the project. The bag is still very strong. As I have shown below with a load of groceries, it stretches nicely to accommodate my purchases.

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Here is my market bag filled from a grocery store trip!

So check out the free pattern below and as always — enjoy!
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Free Large Plastic Market Bag Pattern

Materials needed: One large ball of plastic bag yarn aka plarn

Hooks:
Q size plastic crochet hook
N size metal crochet hook for handles

Description: Large Plastic Market Tote Bag
Bag measures 13 inches wide and 15 inches long

Directions:
Using Q hook, Ch 20.

Messenger Bag Crafted from Plastic Bags

Here is my messenger bag crocheted using recycled plastic bags. I am tempted to call this my ultimate recycled bag because it is so big and could be used for so many different purposes. This was a fun and challenging project as it fulfilled a request I had received.

Awhile back someone asked me to make a bag big enough to hold a scrapbook album. Well, I think this recycled bag would work wonderfully to hold your scrapbooking projects along with extra supplies. I added a plastic canvas sheet to the bottom of my bag to provide more stability. I just placed it inside rolled over at the center in the base of the messenger bag.

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I hope you enjoy this messenger bag project and happy green crafting!

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Free Crocheted Messenger Bag Pattern

Bag measures 15-1/2 inches wide and 13 inches long
Strap length is 42 inches

Materials: One large ball of plarn (plastic bag yarn) Appox. 60 bags
Picture tutorial is found here on how to make plarn

Hooks:
Metal N (9 mm) crochet hook for main bag
Metal J (6 mm) crochet hook for edging

Chain 32.

Patriotic Walker – Wheelchair Tote Bag

As promised, here is the walker – wheelchair tote bag crochet pattern using regular acrylic yarn. I crocheted several of these handy totes lately for a special needs project for our local VA hospital. I made these with red, white, and blue scrap and recycled acrylic yarn to have a patriotic look for the Veterans.

I also crafted some recycled walker – wheelchair tote bags using plastic bag yarn or plarn and that free pattern is found at this link. I have two versions of the bag, one with star buttons above and another with Velcro on the straps. You can pick and choose the style you like as I have posted the patterns for both bags below.

Here is the same tote made with overlapping straps with Velcro.

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Free Walker – Wheelchair Yarn Tote Bag Pattern

Materials needed:
2.3 ozs (approx.) each of red, white and blue acrylic yarn.
2) 3″ Velcro strips and/or
2) 1-1/8″buttons depending on bag version.

Hook:
H (5 mm) U.S. size hook

Gauge using acrylic worst yarn:
8 rows = 3″
7 Hdc = 2″

Description: Tote Bag
Bag measures 12″ wide and 9″ long

Directions:
Using red yarn , Ch 41.

Pink & Orange Recycled Plastic Tote Bag

I crocheted this pink and orange striped tote bag from recycled plastic bags. The pink and orange bags are newspaper bags and the white bags are just normal plastic retail sacks. As most people know, white bags are abundant while its hard to find colorful bags but I’m lucky to obtain the pretty pink and orange bags from my local library. They save the bags that they receive their daily newspapers in and I collect them weekly.

I used my jumbo plarn beach bag pattern to crochet this bag with just a few minor changes from the original pattern. My base was a chain of 30 as I didn’t want quite as large a tote bag for this project. I also just crocheted 41 total rounds. The result is a tote bag that measures 14-1/2″ wide by 17″ long with a 30 inch long pull-through strap.

You can check out my plarn making tutorials here whether you are using newspaper plastic bags or regular plastic bags to create your plastic bag yarn.

This tote bag makes an excellent market bag as the long strap can be slipped over your shoulder or looped around your hand for carrying. You can craft this tote bag project or if you aren’t a crocheter, my pink and orange recycled plastic tote is for sale here.

Plarn Picket Stitch Tote Bag

This recycled bag features a new stitch design that I added for a new look to my latest reusable bag. I call this stitch the Picket Stitch. I have used a similar stitch idea in my picket fence dishcloth pattern and thought it would be interesting to use on a tote bag pattern. It adds a different look and I’m always trying to come up with new ideas for dressing up my recycled bags.

Plarn Pop Tab Tote Bag

This week I present my first pop tab tote bag project. I was asked to create a tote bag using soda pop pull tabs and recycled plastic bags by a member of my Trash to Treasures group on Ravelry. I have been saving soda pop tabs and beer pull tabs so I could complete this project. It took 252 tabs for my bag. I decided that I would alternate rounds so that it didn’t take so many tabs to do this bag. Plus I like the look of the plastic bags by themselves to separate the pull tab rounds.

I used cotton cord on the base of the bag to give it a sturdy bottom and also on the handles. I found if I wrapped the plastic bag yarn (plarn) around the cord as I crocheted around it, it hides the white cord better. As you may see in the closeup pictures of the base, the first few rows I didn’t wrap it as close as I did in later rounds. The later rounds look better and the white cotton cord doesn’t really show through. I found if I wound the plastic around the cord in small sections and then crocheted around the cord, it worked best to keep the plastic tighter and uniform.

Hope you enjoy this free crochet pattern. Happy 4th of July to everyone!

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Free Plarn Pop Tab Bag Pattern

Materials needed:
One ball of plastic bag yarn aka Plarn
(Approx. 50 plastic newspaper bags cut into 1″ strips of plarn)
252 Soda pull-tabs
4 yards – 12/32 (9.5 mm) cotton cord

Hook: J (6 mm)size metal crochet hook
Description: Plastic Bag & Pop Tab Tote Bag
Bag measures 12 inches wide and 10 inches long with 18 inch straps

Directions:
Ch 20 loosely.

Plastic Tote Pattern for Recycled Paper

I posted a few weeks ago about my crocheted plarn tote that a customer ordered to hold her recycled paper. I have been working on writing the crochet pattern and am happy to post it today.

Here is the crocheted base which is done in single crochet for added strength.

One final photo of the recycled tote bag laying down and showing the base.

So without further ado, here is the free crochet plarn pattern for this recycled tote bag. Please enjoy and share any comments with me concerning the project below.

Recycled Paper Tote Bag Pattern

Materials needed:
Plarn yarn 1” wide – approx. 90 plastic grocery bags
Hooks: K (6.5 mm) & N (9 mm) metal crochet hooks

Description: Recycled Plastic Tote Bag
Bag measures 18″ wide, 12” tall and 7” deep with 8.5” handles

Directions:
Recycled bag is crocheted in 2 pieces. A base piece is crocheted and then the sides are worked in the round to complete the bag.

Row 1 (Base piece)
With K crochet hook, Ch 52. Turn and Hdc in 2nd ch from hook and in each chain stitch down to end. Ch 2 and turn.

Puff Stitch Wheelchair Tote

I’m excited to share my latest version of a recycled bag. It’s a wheelchair or walker tote bag. It’s crocheted mainly in grey plastic bags with puff stitch stripes in red, white and blue.

These handy little totes can be hung from a wheelchair or walker. This particular pattern calls for buttons but you can also use Velcro for the closures if you’d like.

I have crocheted many different styles of wheelchair tote bags over the years. If you are looking for a free pattern using regular worst weight yarn here is my patriotic wheelchair tote pattern. Maybe you’d like to crochet the tote bag using recycled t-shirts cut into t-shirt yarn. If so, here is my free t-shirt yarn wheelchair tote bag pattern.

This puff stitch pattern features three stripes but you can always add more or make the tote bag longer by adding more rounds. I have several photos below that you can click on to super size them for more detail.

Puff Stitch Crocheted Wheelchair Tote Bag

Closeup of the puff stitching

Plarn Puff Stitch Wheelchair Tote Bag Pattern

Materials needed:
One large ball of plastic bag yarn Plarn in grey and small ball of
red, white and blue plarn cut 1 inch wide

2) 3/4 inch buttons

Hook:
J (6 mm) size metal crochet hook

Description: Wheelchair or Walker Tote Bag
Tote bag measures 10-1/2 inches wide and 9″ long with 6-3/4 inches long straps

Directions:
Using grey plastic bag yarn or plarn, Ch 31.

Rag Bag Tote

Rag bags are a fun and fugal crafting idea. You use old material to create strips and then you crochet them into a cool rag bag tote such as the one shown here. I used an old queen-sized bed sheet and some other recycled curtain panels to create this handy tote bag.

Here is a close-up photo of the strips I cut. As you can see the solid-colored sheet material was just cut into strips about 1 inch wide. I tried to do the longest strips I could by going around and around the sheet so I did not have too many splices. It’s like peeling an orange in one long continuous strip. The printed material I cut wider and folded it over so the right sides were facing out as shown. I pressed it with a hot iron to keep the strips flat so the printed side was out as I crocheted it.

Click to view full-sized photos

This sturdy and reusable tote can be used as a purse, tote bag, or even as a market bag. It’s very strong with comfortable handles and a fashionable design. So got an old sheet — well get green and craft yourself this eco-friendly rag bag!

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Free Crocheted Recycled Rag Bag Tote Pattern

Bag measures 14 inches wide, 12 inches tall, and 9″ handles

Material:
One Queen sized sheet cut into 1 inch strips

and other fabric cut into strips for stripes on bag

Hook: Metal N (9 mm) crochet hook

Chain 22 with main sheet strips