I am sharing a reader’s designs and crochet pattern for a plastic water bottle carrier. These water bottle carriers are made from recycled plastic bags and have been fashioned into some amazing designs by Cecile Chi.
Cecile has allowed me to reprint her pattern and photos in this post. Her designs are beautiful and shows how plastic trash can truly be transformed into treasures. While she doesn’t give all the details for creating the special designs shown in the photos, her beautiful creations do provide us with numerous ideas for crocheting our own unique designs with recycled plastic bags.
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Recycled Plastic Water Bottle Carrier Pattern By Cecile Chi
Directions for a carrier for a half-liter water bottle:
Cut strips across the bag, 5/8 to 3/4 inches wide to create your plarn (plastic bag yarn)
Beginning the carrier
Begin by making the base, a flat circle with one end of the yarn, make a slip knot loop
Use size F and G crochet hooks as directed
Ch 3
I’m here to introduce my camo plarn ditty bag. My camo plarn is made from green, tan, brown, creme, white, grey and orange recycled plastic bags. Making camo plarn is a wonderful way to use up your odds and ends of plastic bags. I used just one or two bag strips of the same color together and as I worked the ditty bag then I added more bag strips as I crocheted in an effort to create a staggered camo look.
Here is my first sample of the camo plarn after 6 rounds complete of the ditty bag pattern. I used Dot’s Ditty Bag pattern found here.
I did have to change the pattern a bit to make it work with recycled plastic bags. First I used a N (9 mm) crochet hook as I did in this plastic ditty bag version. My finished camo ditty bag is 7 inches tall and about 7 inches wide.
Then I did another experiment and made a winter or snow camo ditty bag. For this recycled bag project, I used only black, white, and grey plastic bags. While I like both of the camo plarn bags, I think I prefer the snow camo bag best.
My plan is to crochet a few more of these camo plarn bags and donate them to soldiers for Christmas. Hopefully some soldiers will find it useful for toiletries or just as a little storage tote.
I present my All American Plarn Recycled Bag! It is crocheted using red and blue newspaper bags and white grocery bags that were recycled into plarn. Here is my plarn making tutorial and I use the same method for cutting and attaching the newspaper strips together. They are much shorter strips but it’s the same loop method as regular plastic grocery sacks for making your plarn.
I got these nice wooden handles from a local thrift store for just 99 cents. This is my first recycled purse project using round wooden handles and I wanted to make sure to attach them firmly to my bag. I ended up working two rows of single crochet stitches around the handles and into the bag. I have explained the process below and hopefully it’s understandable to everyone. You could work this same pattern with bulky yarn and end up with about the same sized bag. Either way I hope everyone enjoys my free crochet pattern below.
Happy Crafting!
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All American Plarn Recycled Bag Pattern
Materials needed:
Plastic bags cut into 1 inch wide plarn strips in red, white and blue.
(Approx. 17-18 bags in each color.)
1) pair of 7 Inch wide wooden handles
Hook: N (9 mm) size metal crochet hook
Description: Red, White and Blue Plarn Striped Bag
13-1/2″ wide by 12″ tall with 9″ at top opening
Directions:
Using salmon red plarn, Ch 26.
I am back sharing another free recycled plarn pattern that I created. I used a satchel style strap design in this crocheted tote bag using plastic bags. The white bags are just regular grocery sacks and the pink ones are plastic newspaper bags that I have been getting from my local library. I used the combination to craft this satchel styled tote which I hope you will enjoy.
Best wishes and happy crafting to all!
Satchel Styled Recycled Tote Bag Pattern
Materials needed:
One large ball of plastic bag yarn aka Plarn in white (approx. 40 bags)
Small ball of pink plarn (approx. 20 bags)
Hook: J (6 mm) metal crochet hook
Description: Tote bag
Bag measures 14 inches wide and 10 inches long with 14 inches handles
Directions:
Using pink plarn, Ch 26.
Here is my latest recycled tote bag which features spike stitch striping. I added the recycled pink newspaper plastic bags in an effort to spice up my mainly white tote bag. It’s amazing how just a few brightly colored bags can add a nice touch to a plain-looking bag.
So if you only have a few colored bags, you might want to try this crochet pattern to add some diversity to your tote bag project. Should anyone be interested in purchasing this bag, it is available on my products page for sale. For all those crafters out there who make their own recycled tote bags, please enjoy my free plarn pattern below.
Spike Stitch Recycled Plarn Tote Bag Pattern
Materials needed:
One large ball of plastic bag yarn aka Plarn
Approx. 50 plastic grocery bags – white in color
One smaller amount of pink plarn – Approx. 8-10 bags
Hook: N (9 mm) metal crochet hook
Description: Recycled Plarn Tote Bag
Bag measures 14″ wide and 13-1/2″ tall with 12″ handles
Directions:
Ch 26 with white plarn.
I crocheted this plarn yarn basket using recycled plastic trash. The sides are made with recycled plastic bags that I make into yarn which is known as plarn. The base is a recycled plastic frozen dinner tray I fished out of the garbage at work. I cut the rim off the dinner tray and punched holes all around the outside as shown in this picture below.
Next using plarn (plastic-bag-yarn), I crocheted a single crochet base round through the holes and around the complete base. Once you get the base row done, it’s much easier crocheting into the plarn of each stitch as you work the additional rounds for your basket. I changed colors several times and used up some of my unique colored stashed plastic bags.
These trays work wonderfully to provide a nice sturdy base for the basket. You could crochet more rounds with the plastic yarn to make your basket taller or add a handle for a cute carrying basket. Either way recycling these plastic trays is a great way to keep them out of our landfills and provides a useful purpose in the recycled crafting field.
Free Pattern for Recycled Plastic Basket
Materials needed:
Plastic bags cut into 1 inch strips into plarn is several different colors
as desired for stripes
1) Plastic frozen dinner tray with the rim cut off
(One used in project was 6 inches long)
Hook: J (6 mm) sized metal crochet hook
Description: Recycled Plastic Yarn Basket
Basket measures 6 inches long, 4-1/2 inches wide and 4 inches tall
Directions:
Using the tray after cutting off the rim, punch holes around the base as shown in the photo. I used heavy duty hole punch to put my holes in the plastic base.
This project involves recycling those plastic six pack rings you get from cans into useful towel holders. The rings are cut apart and trimmed with scissors. You may not have noticed but once the rings aren’t around the cans anymore, they aren’t completely round. Using the shape as a towel holder worked out great. It has a natural bend in the ring which accommodates a folded towel over the ring.
Of course I wanted to keep this a recycled crocheted project, so I used t-yarn or tarn to make this towel holder. T-yarn is the yarn created from recycled t-shirts and cut very thin into strips to cover this plastic ring.
Once you crochet a few rounds, you can slide your towel handle around on the plastic ring. The last photo shows about where you want to place your center over the curve in the plastic so your holder is centered. I used a thin tea towel to insert in the ring as it fits better than thicker towels.
Here is the free crochet pattern below. Enjoy!
T-Yarn Towel Ring Holder
Materials needed:
2-3) ozs of white T-shirt cut into 1/4 inch wide strip and stretched to curl into t-yarn
Here is my t-yarn or tarn tutorial on how to make yarn from recycled t-shirts.
1) plastic ring cut from a plastic six-pack holder
1) 5/8 inch button
Small amount of fingering or thread yarn for trim
Hook:J (6 mm) size metal hook
Description: T-yarn Towel Ring Holder
Holder measures 4 inches wide and 7-1/4 inches long when buttoned
Directions:
Row 1
Attach your t-yarn with Sl St around trimmed plastic ring. Sc loosely around the ring and join with Sl St to beg Sc. (Approx 34-36 Sc)
I present my plarn fat bottom bag that I crocheted using recycled plastic newspaper bags. You may remember me saying that it is difficult for me to obtain pretty colors in plastic bags for my crafting. Well thanks to a suggestion from a blogger friend, I asked my local library to save their newspaper bags for me. They have been giving me one pink and one orange plastic bag daily from their newspapers. Anyway I saved up the plastic bags and crocheted my first fat bottom bag.
You may notice that the pink shade on the last few rounds of the bag and handles are darker. That was because the newspaper company changed the color of bags they were using. At first I was upset that I couldn’t finish my recycled bag using all the same color of pink but then once I was forced to use the darker bags, it turned out to be a nice contrast for the finished project.
As I mentioned this is my first fat bottom crocheted bag. The original pattern in written only in Portuguese. But there is an English chart and a wonderful tutorial including the lining over at Bend Beanies Blog which is a life saver. She has great pictures and helpful tips to help translate this awesome free pattern.
Below you will find some pictures I took as I worked the pattern.
I finished up this crocheted earthtone kitchen set for my Mom’s birthday. It includes a round ripple dishcloth that I made using Julee’s RR dishcloth pattern. I changed it up a bit and made the center flat.
Below is my open mesh magic dishcloth along with a scrubbie dot I crocheted using recycled plastic bags.
Click on photos to supersize them
Next is a hostess gift I put together for a friend. It includes another RR dishcloth and a plarn scrubbie dot. The little flowered tag is cut from a recycled greeting card. I thought it matched the gift and look perfect for a Spring gift so I used it as my gift tag.
Anyway just wanted to check in with everyone and show some of my recent crocheting. I’ve am busy finishing up a fat bottom bag I am crocheting from pink plastic newspaper bags and just started a special order purse being crocheted from vcr tape for a repeat customer of mine. I will be back soon to share all those recycled craft projects with you as soon as I get them done.
Happy crafting everyone!
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