I tried a new bear pattern that was suggested at our Bears for Kids group at Ravelry. This little pocket bear calls for a small crochet hook but I find using a small hook to be very hard on my hands. So I used a little bigger E (3.5mm) crochet hook.
I also tried a new way of making eyes when I crocheted this bear. For the eyes, I chained 3 and joined with black yarn to form a ring. Then I did several slip stitches into the ring, leaving long tails to secure to the inside of the head before stuffing. I like this method. It makes for small raised ball eyes. I then placed the eyes on the bear face and used the tails to secure the eyes in place from the inside of the head. I tied several knots and wove in the ends on the inside of the bear’s head. I really like how the eyes came out and want to try this method again in the future on other bears.
Here is a closer picture of the eyes on the bear.
Here is my latest crochet project. A rectangle granny throw that can be used as a lapghan or wheelchair throw. This is a project that I crocheted using mostly donated yarn and is being given to the VA Outreach Program.
I use this rectangle granny blanket pattern. I chain 41 stitches to start and do the joins a little different. The way I do the corner joins is really handy and you don’t have to slip stitch over to the corner space to start a new round. It makes for a nicer corner join in my opinion. You can read more about my changes and see pictures
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
Introducing the latest of my recycled bags. This is a wheelchair or walker tote that is crocheted all in recycled plastic bags. Some people also call them a wheelchair carrier as you use them to carry things such as books, newspapers or tissues.
This recycled bag was crocheted using the free puff stitch wheelchair tote pattern. It features a red, white and blue striped theme. As it is hard to find these special colored bags, I only crocheted the puff stitches on the front of the tote. Each puff stripe row used less than 2 colored plastic bags made into plarn to crochet.
I used a K (6.5 mm) crochet hook to work this tote bag. Final finished size is 10.5 inches wide by 9 inches long with 6.75 inch straps. I added
I have been busy crocheting a recycled tote bag for a future charity fundraiser. This bag was crocheted using the free ultimate grocery bag pattern.
The pattern creates a 13 inches long reusable tote bag. I used around 50 plastic retail sacks to crochet the bag. The green handles were plarn I made from lightweight grocery bags that I recycled. Here is a closeup photo below to show the crocheted green handles.
Here is my latest recycled bag project. It’s a smaller version of Japanese knot bag wine tote that I crocheted a few years ago. For this plarn wine tote, I crocheted it a few stitches less around and only went up to a standing height of 9.5 inches.
The full written free Japanese Knot Plarn Tote pattern is found here. Just remember for this smaller tote bag use a K (6.5 mm) crochet hook. Adjust the original pattern as desired to reach the size for the tote that you need. The beauty in these patterns is that you can always tweak them to get the desired outcomes.
Below is a photo of my recycled wine tote with a small bottle of wine.
It is a new year and time for a new recycled bag! What better way to kick off a new year but with a new homemade reusable and upcycled tote bag. This tote bag was crocheted using about 45 brown plastic bags and 12 reddish-colored newspaper delivery sacks.
Here is a closeup of the top and handles.
This bag is very similar to my basic crocheted tote bag pattern but with a few changes including two stripes. The two stripes were added by cutting up 12 recycled plastic bags that newspapers are delivered in. Here is the tutorial link for cutting newspaper sacks into plarn to use as yarn.
I have provided the full new crochet pattern below for everyone’s personal use. As always, my patterns are free and I hope people will enjoy them.
Two Stripe Plarn Tote Bag Crochet Pattern
Materials needed: Plastic bag yarn “Plarn” in main color brown (40+ bags) cut 1 inch wide
and approx. 12 contrasting colored plastic bags for stripes
Hook: N (9 mm) size metal hook
Description: Recycled Plastic Tote Bag
Bag measures 12 inches wide and 12 inches long with 5 inch handles
Directions:
Ch 28
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
I have had lots of time on my hands lately to crochet with all the stay-at-home orders. I thought it was time to break into my huge stash of plastic bags and crochet a new recycled plastic tote bag. This bag was crocheted using mainly white plastic retail bags made into plarn and I added blue and green yarn to give it a Seattle Seahawks color theme.
This tote bag was crocheted using my free ultimate recycled bag pattern. I added stripes using regular yarn by doing 3 blue HDC (half double crochet stitch) rows, 3 green HDC and then 3 more blue HDC rows along with plastic bag yarn to crochet this bag.
Finished size is 12″ wide by 13″ long with 7″ handles. I think it would make a nice book bag so I may donate it to the next library fundraiser. So in honor of my beloved Seahawks,
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