Today I had the pleasure of meeting a friend of mine’s mothers. One of them pulled out a bag she was crocheting, and told us with pride that she had made it from reused plastic bags… in this case, newspaper bags (at the top) and grocery bags (forming the bottom). The thing is quite sturdy and remarkably ingenious. She of course demurred and has pointed out that she’s not the first to do this. But we were super excited and she graciously let us photograph the process of making plastic yarn.



First, she takes a plastic bag (a clean one, she points out) and cuts off the top and bottom, throwing these bits into the recycling.


Then she rolls the bag length-wise, making it easier to cut.


She cuts the rolled up bag, which leaves her with loops of plastic.


Then she loops the bags through each other, like you link rubber bands onto each other. This leaves her with a long line of plastic that she rolls into a ball like yarn.