Plarn - Plastic Yarn
“Plarn” is “yarn” made from plastic bags, like grocery shopping bags.
Backstory
I can’t remember when I first came across this but I’m guessing it’s been more than five years. I started looking into it again because I have so. freaking. many. plastic bags now. After living in places that banned plastic bags years ago, it’s weird to see them again here in Memphis. Also, with the pandemic, I can’t always use my own reusable bags and grocery delivery here comes in all plastic! I don’t even think I’ve seen paper bags anywhere??
How to make plarn
Different people have different methods creating plarn but all involve cutting a plastic bag into one or more thin strips and connecting those together to make a long thread of plastic. Either method allows for adding more plastic strands on the fly.
Bags are HDPE, high-density polyethylene. Biodegradable bags are not advised for these projects. Which is fine since the point is to use up existing plastic.
Connect loops of plastic
- 2 minute YT video on this method by needlepointers
- Catching all the little slips in a container, like in this video, is probably the easiest approach.
- Other videos showed strip/loop width varied from 1-2 inches.
Diagonal cuts for one strand/bag
Stell @YouTube shows how she cuts bags to get a continuous strip of plastic. Another video shows how she connects new strands by trapping the new strand in the tail of the current piece. She mentions holding two or more strands together for bulky yarn weights instead of cutting thicker strips because the thin plastic will just compress down.
Useful Tutorials
GemFox @YouTube shows connecting loops method with helpful info, such as yardage and weight. In her case, 1 bag is apx 8.75yrd, 4.4g of “fiber.” They also use a regular ball winder to cake up a long stretch of bags, nice! Tote in video is estimated to use 100 bags.
Stell showed how to use tunisian crochet (TC) to create mittens with a plastic exterior and fiber interior. Says snow won’t stick, seems like a neat idea. I love TC but I don’t live anywhere with snow right now.
Thoughts
❓ Will it be scratchy? Will it be annoying to pull stuff in or out? Not sure from videos. One person said she had been using a bag for years without issue or signs or wear. Which honestly, these bags are plastic, they’d outlive us by centuries probably.
YouTube showed me some people call the strips tied together “plarn roving,” which I have feelings about. But whatever, you spin your plastic into cording or whatever you want, you crafty folks. 😅
[[ Plan_Make Plarn Bag ]] project planning note
Created November 29, 2021