Rants of A Coyote

Okay, I know this is an odd one, but I had fun doing this and thought I would share. It doesn't really belong under money matters (at least not yet), but it may end up there one day.

Making Yarn Out of Plastic Grocery Bags

Sure, you can find tuts on this all over the place. It is often referred to as PLARN. The concept is rather simple and I was surprised at how strong the plarn is.

There is a few different ways to make it, and depending on the application you may choose one way over the other. If you just want a quick ball of plarn take a plastic grocery sack, fold it vertically multiple times. Cut off the handles and the bottom.

Now cut off about every 1/2 to 1 inch. The result, you will end up with about a dozen or so giant "rings" from the bag.

Here is the quick way: Remember connecting rubber bands as a kid to make a really long rubber band? Same thing, loop one through the other so that it forms a knot at the end. Keep extending the chain

in in this fashion. When you get the length you want, just wind everything up into a ball. Done and ready to use for projects. You will probably need larger needles for this plarn.

Next: Single wound strand.

If you have a spindle this part goes faster. if you do not you can make one easy enough. It is basically an inverted spinning top with a hook at the point. Take the chain you made from the first method and start twisting one end. When it is nice and tight wind it around the neck of the spinning top. bring the length around the head and through the hook. Now, spin! spin the top and let it wind the thread nice and tight. Keep working the thread till it feels right.

This part truely is an art. you can make the plarn as loose or tight as you like. If you want thicker yarn combine multiple sections of spun yarn together and spin in the opposite direction when they are together. It will help lock them together.

As you can see in my image, the finished product looks kinda like a shiny twine. This one was doubled twice and I was able to make this little crocheted out of one FredMeyer grocery bag.