
As you may know, many of my crochet patterns are worked in the round and without joining. This has become a very popular and handy way to make crocheted bags and rugs so you do not need to count rows or use stitch markers. I have had several people contact me asking for clarification on how to work in the round. So I taken a few pictures and created this picture tutorial which hopefully new crocheters and other crafters who are not familiar with this process can benefit from my tutorial.
I have chosen one of my favorite patterns and will illustrate how to work plastic bag yarn or plarn in the round. Here is my signature recycled bag purse pattern which is crocheted in the round.
The first step is to chain 26 for this particular pattern.
Hdc in 2nd chain from hook and in each stitch down to the end.[…]

I present my crocheted neck wrap scarf. It is crocheted in the round and just slips over your head. As shown, it can be worn up over the chin and nose. It would make an excellent neck warmer and face warmer for winter and for snowmobiling.
You can make it smaller and larger as desired by just adjusting your beginning chain. I have made several of these and found the snugger fitting ones work better for staying up on the nose. You can wear it just around the neck but this scarf gives you the option of pulling it up around the chin and nose to keep you extra warm.
This is a very quick and easy project that uses less than 3 ounces of worst weight yarn. These neck wrap scarves make excellent gifts and would be a great Christmas gift too. Enjoy the free crochet pattern below.
Crocheted Neck Wrap Scarf
Finished adult scarf measures: 11” wide by 7-1/2” long
Hook: Metal “G” (4.25 mm) US sized crochet hook
Materials: 3 oz – Camo Super Saver Worsted Yarn
Rnd 1
Ch 65 loosely and then join to the beginning to create a circle. Be carefully that your chain is not twisted when you join the first round. […]
Time for a new recycled plastic bag project. Things have been a little hectic lately and I haven’t been able to craft and post new patterns as frequently as I would like. But this week I was able to get some plastic newspaper bags cut up into plastic bag yarn. I just love this beautiful shade of pink salmon that my local library gets their newspaper delivered in. For those people who may have not read my fat bottom bag post, these beautiful bags are being saved by my local library. I pick them up about twice a week and it’s a wonderful resource for me to be able to obtain unique and colorful bags for my recycled crafting projects.
I actually counted the number of bags I used in this crocheting project. It was 29 plastic bags. I cut them about 1 inch wide and interconnected them together using the loop method. Each newspaper plastic bag results in about 17-18 loops if anyone is interested. Anyway this water bottle holder holds a 32 oz Nalgene bottle or a store bought 1 liter bottle of water. Because these plastic bags are a bit thinner I used a K crochet hook rather than my standard N hook. The smaller hook provided a tighter stitch and a sturdier water bottle holder.
Please enjoy the free crochet pattern below and happy crafting to all!
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Recycled Newspaper Bags Water Bottle Holder Pattern
Material Needed: 29 salmon pink newspaper plastic bags cut into 1” strips and connect into plarn.
Plastic newspaper sleeve bags were used in this project. Cut the strips and assemble
just as you do in this plarn making tutorial.
Hook:
Metal “K” (6.5 mm) US size crochet hook
Water Bottle Holder Size:
Bag – 5-1/2” wide, 7” long, with 4” round bottom
Strap – 40” long & 2” wide
Fits water bottles that are 32 oz reusable bottles or 1 liter plastic bottles
With pink plarn, Ch 4, Sl St to join in first st of chain to form ring. […]

This month’s challenge over at Trash to Treasures on Ravelry has been to do a wardrobe re-do. This means to take some old clothing item and transform it into a new and useful item. I have had this striped t-shirt that I have been saving just for such a project. The neckline was frayed and this old tee needed to be upcycled into a new shirt.
Here is the before photo of my t-shirt.
Next I cut off the top of the shirt as shown.
I loosely followed the Drop’s crocheted yoke pattern that was added to the top of a knitted sweater for my project. I first zig-zagged around the top cut edge of my shirt to prevent it from unraveling. I ended up running around the top edge twice just to make sure the seams wouldn’t fray. I chose Lion Wool yarn in midnight blue and it took just one skein (3 ozs) to completed my yoke. Using a #7 steel crochet hook, I worked around the top edge by poking a hole and pulling my blue yarn through the hole. I did a single crochet stitch evenly all long the front, underarms, and the back of the shirt. I used a G hook from this point on.
Once my base row was completed, I needed to reduce the number of stitches around, so I work 2 single crochet stitches together around the entire next round. I then worked round 3 with a double crochet in each stitch and chain 30 (8-1/2″ long) for the sleeve opening on each side of my shirt. From here I worked more decreased evenly over the next rounds while somewhat following the chart in the Drops Design pattern. I did find I had to make more decreases to get the yoke narrowed down but in the end it turned out nicely.
Here is my final crocheted yoke photo. The dark wool just doesn’t want to photograph very clearing but you can click on the photos to supersize them. So if you have an old t-shirt, consider adding a crocheted yoke to give it a new look like I did in this wardrobe re-do project. […]

Halloween is just around the corner and I’ve been saving plastic orange newspaper bags for quite awhile so I could crochet a recycled trick or treat bag. I just got it finished in time and am here to share the project with everyone.
This trick or treat bag features a milk jug base so its nice and sturdy. With a sharp pair of scissors, just cut around the bottom of the milk jug as shown in the photo below. The jug I used had a line around the base so it made it easy to cut it evenly around the bottom. By recycling a plastic milk jug, you create a trick or treat basket that will hold its shape and your candy nicely.
Once you finish crocheting the bag, you can always add more embellishments like eyes and a mouth to the project. I took a few pieces of VCR tape and created a quick face for my trick or treat bag. So this concludes my Halloween project for the year. Enjoy the free crochet pattern below — Happy Halloween!
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Trick or Treat Plastic Plarn Basket
Materials needed: One ball of orange plastic bags cut into strips 3/4” wide and interlocked
to create a ball of plarn – (Approx. 20-25 bags)
Small amount of green plastic bags cut into plarn for strap
One plastic milk jug
Here is my picture tutorial on how to make yarn from recycled plastic bags.
Hook: “K” (6.5 mm) metal crochet hook
Description: Orange Trick or Treat Basket -
Basket measures 9” across front and 6-1/2” tall with 14” handle strap.
Directions:
Ch 3 and join with a Sl St to form a ring. […]
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