You’ve probably never heard of this but it’s becoming more and more popular!
Plarn!
It’s plastic yarn, made from carrier bags. Yep, the type you bring your shopping home in! If you have a wander around the Interwebs and Pinterest in particular, you’ll find people crocheting all sorts with it.
Today, we’re going to show you how to make and use your own. The process we’re going to follow can also make you t-shirt yarn (one of us would crochet with nothing else, if she could!).
First, find yourself a carrier bag (or a bin liner). Straighten it out really well.
Next, cut off the handles and the bottom like this.
Now make cuts about an inch wide from one end of the bag to the other – but not all the way across. Stop cutting about an inch from the other side, as in the picture.
At this point, I like to put my hand through all the loops we’ve made to make the next stage easier.
Finally, you’re going to cut along the lines marked in the picture. Cutting diagonally like this results in one big strand of plarn, which means no knotting up loads of little strands!
Ta-da!
All you need to do now is roll it up … and decide what to make with it!
We’ve seen lots of simple ideas for plarn, including washing up pads. We turned ours into a dispenser for yet more carrier bags! Shove ’em in the top and pull ’em out the bottom! We used an 8mm hook and crocheted nothing but dc.
UK Crochet Patterns 
My sister discovered this a while ago, and was excitedly telling my mother and me about it, and how she made a durable non-porous lunch bag for her daughter. My brother chimed in with “So let me get this straight. You take a bunch of plastic bags, slice them up, knit them back together to make… one bag?” It sounded silly like that, but the lunch bags she made do last longer than the grocery bags alone would. And they don’t get ruined by leaks and condensation and the like.
Reblogged this on tinkerbellknits and commented:
Finally something to use up all those plastic bags I hoard!
I love plarn! Such a great way to recycle! But a word of advice: don’t use biodegradeable carrier bags to make plarn becuase it will all rot and fall apart which is sad 😦
My advice exactly. I use the charity bags that come through the door. Xx
I’ve made bags out of plastic carriers and it’s a fun project. I just happened to blunt every single scissors in the house cutting up the bags!
I’m a plarn-lover and have blogged about it before. I tend to have a ‘Bag of Bags’ project on the go all the time as friends want one as soon as they’ve seen it. I use a slightly different technique to make plarn though. I’ve made a cute orange and white handbag and just gearing up to start another!
Hi! What’s your technique? Send us a link so we can reblog?
I’ve made all kinds of items with plarn. http://plarncreations.blogspot.com/
I’ve knitted with plain before but I’m new to crochet so hadn’t thought of that yet! Thanks. The charity bags idea from knitnrun4sanity is a good one.
I agree – I’ve been using them as bin liners until now 😛
Always wanted to try this… I saw a lovely outdoor rug made from gradient rainbow coloured bags. Looked fab!
Reblogged this on Craft Krazy and commented:
Finally something to do with the bags lying around!
Hi, I have a doubt.. I got around to cutting and holding the loops.. but how do you cut diagonally? do both of the sheets need to be cut together? or separately?
Actually I got it now!! Thanks a lot for this post! 🙂