Come Learn and Share Information about Recycling, Crocheting & Recycled Crafting


Rectangle Granny Throw

May 25, 2024 No comments yet
Rectangle Granny Throw

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

Crocheted Harvest Recycled Bag

October 1, 2023 No comments yet
Crocheted Harvest Recycled Tote Bag

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

Recycled Plastic Wheelchair Tote Bag

April 6, 2023 No comments yet
Plarn Wheelchair Tote Bag

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

Green Handled Plarn Tote Bag

September 17, 2022 No comments yet
Green Handled Plarn Tote Bag

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.

Recycled Wine Tote Bag

May 8, 2022 No comments yet
Plarn Japanese Knot Tote

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.

Two Stripe Plarn Tote Bag

January 2, 2022 No comments yet
Two Stripe Plarn Tote Bag

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 ā€œPlarnā€ 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

Recycled Plastic Messenger Book Bag

September 19, 2020 8 comments
Recycled Plarn Messenger Book Bag

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

Recycled Seahawks Tote Bag

May 16, 2020 3 comments
Recycled Seahawks Tote Bag

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,

Recycled Paper Bag Tote

February 18, 2019 2 comments
Recycled Paper Tote Bag

A customer asked me if I could crochet her a large plastic bag tote to store her paper for recycling. She wanted a very large tote bag 18 inches wide, with a 7 inches base and 12 inches tall. Of course it had to have handles for carrying and be made from recycled plastic bags. I love a challenge and to crochet such a recycled tote bag was fun.

I used around 90 recycled plastic sacks cut 1 inch wide to complete this recycled paper holding tote. I used the double strand plarn making method to crochet this tote. Here are a few photos of the completed bag.

Here is a photo of the recycled tote bag laying flat.



About Me

Hello, Iā€™m Cindy or aka RecycleCindy. Welcome to my blog site that is dedicated to recycling and crafting. I love to crochet and create crafts and other useful things from recycled materials. I share many free tutorials and patterns for creating recycled projects as well as other handmade items.


Here is a direct link to all my free patterns available here on My Recycled Bags.


Thank you for stopping by to visit and for your interest in My Recycled Bags!