How to make yarn (to crochet) out of grocery or garbage bags

Recycle grocery bags and use garbage bags to create "yarn" that can be used in just about any crochet pattern! The yarn is super easy to make, and only takes a little time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Plastic grocery bags or garbage bags
• Scissors

1. 
   Average grocery bag

   Gather your grocery bags or garbage bags. Depending on what you plan on making, you may need quite a few of these. Check each bag to ensure that there are no holes or tears anywhere in the seams or on the front/back panels. One grocery bag makes almost exactly 170 inches of “yarn”. Garbage bags are MUCH more. Your best bet is to make a few bags worth, and then have a few bags sitting around for after you start your project. Then you can add strips as you need for the project.

2. 
   Folded bag

   Taking 1 bag at a time, fold in half (from side to side, not top to bottom). Straighten this out. Fold in half, again, and straighten again. Continue folding in half and flattening out until the strip is about an inch wide from side to side.

3. 

   Straighten the strips and flatten on a table or the floor to wait for you to use them. You can use a paper clip in the center of the strip to hold in place. I usually will lay these on the floor with a book on top to keep them in place and to keep outside effects (dogs, kids, and Timmy) from disturbing their folds.

4. 

   One by one, cut off the top of the bag (where the handles are) about half an inch or so below the bottom of the handle loop. Cut off the bottom of the bag, about half an inch from the seam. What you have just removed is garbage; you may discard it as you will not use it.

5. 

   Cut the bag strip into 1 inch or so sections. This doesn't have to be exact, nor does it have to be even... Just be sure that they are not much less that one inch. We don't want them to break. Your scissors should easily make it across the folds in one snip, so this is a very quick process. *Note: don’t try to cut the paperclip ;o)

6. 

   Organize the loops as best you can so that they do not tangle. If you have something round that you can place them on until you use them, this will work best. Otherwise, just lay them out open, neat, and try to keep them from being disturbed. If they do, no worries, you’ll just have to detangle them as you connect them.

7. 

   Connect the first two loops as follows (don't worry; this will be a quick step after you've done a few).
   
   a. Lay one hoop on the floor or table in front of you.
   b. Lay the second hoop next to the first, slightly overlapping one another.
   c. The outside part of the first hoop we will call A, the overlapped part of this bag in the center we’ll call B, and the outside edge of the second bag will be called C.
   d. Take B and bring it in towards A. You’ll want it to go under A.
   e. Slowly pull B until a small knot is formed between the two hoops.

8. 

   Starting with either hoop, you’ll continue the “yarn” with your following pieces. Hold the original knot in one hand. Run the plastic through your hands so that it is less like a hoop and more like a string. You’ll pull it through your hand until about 2 inches or so from the end. Take your next hoop and feed half of it through this opening. If the side you’ve fed through is D, and the part of the hoop that is not fed through the string is E, you’ll pull D up through the opening that E makes. Please see the image to the left for a pictorial example of this.
   *Notice the two hoops are colored differently here, one has green streaks and the other has blue.

9. 

   Continue doing step 8 until all of your hoops have been strung on. If some appear uneven, don’t worry so much. At the worst, it will be a bit uneven in your crochet, and you can tuck it in easily so that no one will see it. Once you have a sufficient amount, roll into a “yarn” ball to keep it neat until you are working with it.

10. Use this as you would with any yarn for a crochet pattern. It’s fairly strong, long lasting, and works best with a larger crochet hook. I recommend an N, but anything over a G will work.

Tips & Warnings

• Take your time with your first few hoops. They will notoriously be uneven if you don't.
• If you run out of "yarn" just grab another bag and make it into your strips. These can be added one at a time or many at a time, depending on your need.
• You can add stripes to your project by adding a few hoops at a time, and then switching out to a new color as you come to it.

[BrightScarf]

on 3/6/2009 Whoa, this is great! I've had plastic bags piling up a bit, and have been wanting to make something with yarn... and here's the solution!

[byhook]

on 8/18/2008 ive been doing this for years but with bread wrappers too lots of different colors.. made rugs for camping and they lasted for years.. pick them up shake them off or hang on the line and hose down good to go again.

[proudmama762003]

on 6/26/2008 just a thought - the leftover pieces from the top handles and bottom seem can be used to stuff little toys for babys to make the crinkly sound - just be sure there is no way to get them out as they could pose a choking hazard.

great article btw!

[SFaloon]

on 6/8/2008 This is a great idea. These bags are piling up and they will never 'die' in a landfill. We can make more permanent grocery bags out of them. Also floor mats for those wet, messier places. Excellent.

[cyberpyxi]

on 12/12/2007 When it comes to crafts, I'm the queen of cheap material, lol. I really like this one, you can make so much with the plastic bags, and people always "ohh" and "ahh" over them.

If you have any other craft questions or anything else you'd like some more info on, be sure the request an article!