T-shirt yarn or tarn as some call it, is created by cutting a t-shirt into narrow strands. The ideal method is to find a t-shirt without side seams and cut it into one continuous strand. Then you stretch it to make what I call curled t-shirt yarn. Here is a tutorial on how to make curled t-shirt yarn.
That is the process that I used to crochet this baby bib.
I used the bottom hem from the t-shirt for the ties on the bib. The free crochet pattern with all the details can be found here. I did do a few modifications to original pattern which are as follows:
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
Got plastic bags? Want to make a cute little shoulder bag? Well grab your crochet hook and those bags and lets crochet a mini shoulder bag purse out of those plastic sacks.
This recycled crafting project used about 15 brown Safeway retail sacks, cut 1 inch wide and assembled using the looping method to create plarn. The finished purse measures 6.5 inches wide by 5 inches tall with a 36 inch long strap. The strap can be knotted as shown for a shorter strap or kept longer for wearing across the body.
Here is free mini shoulder bag pattern.
Just finished up crocheting this recycled plastic bag wine holder. It used about 40 salmon-colored recycled newspaper bags made into plarn aka plastic bag yarn. I added a few white plastic retail bags for the stripe.
This particular recycled bag project was crocheted using my free Japanese knot pattern that I first published in 2015. If you are not familiar with a Japanese knot, it is a closure that features two handles. One handle is shorter than the other so you can pull the longer handle through the shorter as a quick and unique closure. I used a K crochet hook for this bag as I wanted a smaller tote bag for a wine bottle holder. My finished size following the original pattern with a K hook is 11 inches tall by 9 inches wide at top.
Here is a photo of the tote bag without the wine bottle.
I just was notified that my blog was selected by a group of panelist as one of the Top 100 Upcycling Blogs on the web. Wow that is so exciting to be recognized in this way on the Internet.
I am number 23 of the 100 blogs. This is one of the most comprehensive list of Top 100 Upcycling Blogs on the Internet and I am so honored to be listed.
Here is the full list of blogs that made the list. I hope you take a few minutes and check out the different blogs featured in the post.
Happy Earth Day! April 22, 2016 is the 46th year of celebrating Earth Day. Earth Day is not just about one day a year but rather to bring focus on our Earth and keep it going all year long. Whether you are planting a tree, attending a rally, picking up litter, recycling materials or bringing awareness to our precious Earth in some other way, the key is to DO something.
As they say, every little bit helps and our Earth needs every one of us to do our part. If you are a long time reader of this blog, you know I love to recycle materials and use them to create new and useful items. I recycle plastic bags, plastic packaging, t-shirts, old linens, cassette and video tapes, and denim jeans. I also reclaim yarn from old sweaters and repurpose plastic lids, rings and old purse handles. I try and do my part which I know is a small thing and again when we all do a little, it can make a big difference.
So on this Earth Day 2016, try recycling, repurposing, or reusing something. If you need ideas, I have free tutorials and patterns on how to use many different recycled materials on my blog. If you have questions,
Earlier this year someone sent me several vintage audio tape reels. I had never crafted with this type of film tape before and was excited to give it a try. I figured the tape would be similar to vcr video tape or cassette tape when I crocheted with it.
The tape from vcr and cassette tapes is strong and a bit stretchable. You can crochet and knit with the recycled material without it breaking very often. The material while strong is still flexible enough to create many different recycled video tape projects and cassette tape items. Unfortunately this was not the case with these old audio tapes.
My first attempt at crocheting with the tapes resulted in the tape strand breaking almost immediately. I could only crochet a stitch or two before one of the tapes broke. I typically crochet with two strands of recycled tape as it provides a more durable product. I tried one strand, I tried two strands, I tried adding a strand of yarn for stability, and nothing worked.
I’m always looking for new ways to recycle and repurpose plastic waste such as this large toilet paper packaging. When I see something like this plastic I just want to find some useful way to reuse it. So I set out to create plastic yarn or plarn from this piece of packaging.
Because this plastic packaging is very large, I cut it into one continuous long strip about 1 inch wide. I started at the one opened end of the packaging to begin cutting. I placed the piece of plastic across my leg and used the scissors to cut around and around. I just kept cutting the strip around the plastic and through the seams. The seams on this packaging are very strong and glued so I believe it will hold for crafting without having to worry about the seams coming apart.
The result is one ball of plarn that netted 45 yards of yarn for crafting.
Here are some gift tags I made from a pretty Kleenex box I had. The box was just so cute that I wanted to recycled the cardboard into something useful so I got out my tag die cutter. I cut as many tags as I could from the panels of the box and then used a hole punch to put a hole into the top of the tags. I used scrap yarn and some leather strips for ties to finish off my gift tags.
Here is one other set of gift tags I cut from another Kleenex box. The bottom had some plain white so I cut out a few of those to show you that with some pretty yarn, they make great gift tags too. For the other tags, I used pieces of plarn (plastic bag yarn) for my ties.
This is a really quick and easy project that you and the kids can both enjoy. Let the kids cut strips of yarn or other recycled materials for the ties and voilà — you have yourself some cute and free gift tags.
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