How to Knit With Plastic Grocery Bags
The key to knitting with plastic grocery bags is processing the bags into a continuous strand of material that you can wind into balls, and then place on your knitting needles like yarn. This process is not complicated or time consuming, and one standard-sized, plastic bag will provide approximately nine yards of material. The same principle used to recycle old T-shirts into yarn can be used for plastic bags.This allows you to recycle your grocery bags, so they don't end up in a landfill, and create practical items, such as lightweight, tote bags from the material.
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Instructions
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Prepare the Bag for Cutting
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1
Place the bag on a flat surface and smooth it out into a rectangular shape with the handles at the top.
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2
Cut off the handles of the bag so that the top edge is even across.
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3
Cut off approximately 1 inch from the bottom of the bag to remove the seams that create the pleated corners. You will be left with an open tube of plastic material.
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4
Turn the bag 90 degrees so that the open edges face left and right, then smooth out the bag on the flat surface again.
Fold and Cut the Bag into Fringe
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5
Fold the bottom edge up toward the top edge, almost in half, but leaving approximately one inch of the top edge uncovered. Smooth the plastic again so you have a nice crease at the bottom fold.
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6
Fold the bag again from the bottom up to the top and make it even with the previous fold, approximately one inch from the top edge. Press flat for a nice crease again.
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7
Cut one-inch wide vertical strips through the plastic starting at the bottom folded edge and slicing up to the top, but stop after you cut through the lower fold 1 inch from the top. Do not cut through the top edge. Don't worry if the outer edges are a little ragged.
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8
Pick up the top uncut edge in your hand and shake out the folds. You will be left with what looks like a wide piece of fringed material.
Turn the Fringe into a Continuous Strand
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9
Separate the front and back sections of the bag at the top uncut edge, then sit down. Starting at the open left edge, place the bag over your knee with the top uncut edge vertical, and smooth the bag out along your thigh. The bag will resemble a ribcage where the fringe strips are the ribs.
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10
Cut a left-slanted diagonal from the middle of the bottom edge up to the point where the first horizontal strip on the left side meets with the now vertical, uncut top edge.
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11
Make your next left-slanted diagonal cut from the point where the first right strip joins the top edge, and slice up and across to the point where the next left strip joins the top edge. You are basically making left-slanted diagonal cuts across the vertical top edge in order to create a continuous spiral of plastic material.
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12
Repeat step 3 for the length of the bag, then cut from the last strip on the right through the edge of the bag to end.
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13
Wind the strand you have made into a ball for knitting. Repeat all steps with multiple bags to increase the size of your ball.
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14
Treat the strand of plastic material just like yarn. All stitches work the same way.
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1
Tips & Warnings
You can knot the strands together as you wind your ball, or simply work the ends in as you knit, just as you would if you were adding a new ball of yarn to your project.
Because the plastic material is thin and likely to cling to your needles more than yarn, you may want to use needles with sharp points to pick up stitches more easily.
If you are confident in your ability to cut a spiral of uniform width the entire length of the bag, you can try making the strand freehand and bypass the fringe cutting method. Start at at one open edge of the tube and cut on an upward slant, moving around the tube continuously until you reach the top.
The plastic material is slippery. You may want to use wooden needles, instead of metal or plastic, to prevent your stitches from sliding off too easily.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit a blue recycle symbol image by wayne ruston from Fotolia.com
