Weekly Accumulation of Plastic Bags
+ 3 bright orange newspaper bags
+ 1 bread bag
+ 1 bagel or English muffin bag
+ 1 miscellaneous "I forgot my canvas bag" bag
- 1 doggie poop sack
- 1 garbage sack
+ 4 net weekly increase in plastic bags
To try to control the proliferation, and in celebration of Earth Day, I am knitting a carry-all out of used plastic bags. This involves slicing the plastic bags into one-inch spiral strips, much as one might peel an apple. The slicing takes about fifteen minutes per bag. I've sliced one bag each morning and each evening for a week, and I now have a softball-sized ball of plastic "yarn."
My original plan was to give this plastic carry-all to my sister for her birthday on May 15. The current plan is to give it to my mother for her birthday on August 11. Depending on how things proceed, my sister-in-law's birthday isn't until the end of January.
6 comments:
Are you kidding!? This is the coolest idea!! I'm going to try this if I can net more bags than I use (for the 2x/daily dog walks...). But, the meijer's bags are basically a nasty "tan" color - wouldn't be very pretty. Maybe I'll wait to see how your's turns out... :)
I can give you bags! Hundreds of bags!
Wait a minute! You have PLENTY of time to finish it for my birthday present - if, that is, you really care about me....
There is an article about this in a craft magizine that I subscribe to (http://www.craftzine.com). In it, Alexis Berger describes an easy way to make the plastic yarn. "Lay the plastic bag flat with both handels on the right side. Then roll it up like sushi, and slice it to create loops. Then intertwine these loops to make a chain." I have tried this method and it is very fast, easy and make a strong, double-stringed yarn. In the article, she also mentions that it takes about 50 bage to make a purse. Check out the bags that she has made: http://picasaweb.google.com/alexis.berger/PlasticCraft
Good luck and happy crafting!
Here's a site with lots of patterns and hints for making bags from recycled materials: http://www.myrecycledbags.com/
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