Make plarn using the above episode of ask me monday as a guide.
How to make a mat from plastic bags.
Nanaimo harbour city seniors in namaimo british columbia canada have taken plastic shopping bags and turned them into sleeping mats by crocheting them together.
The goal is a 3 by 6 size plastic yarn mat.
Basic knit sleep mat recipe.
Materials to make a sleep mat from plastic bags.
John the apostle catholic church to create their own mats using about 700 plastic bags apiece.
Flatten the plastic bag to best you can and straighten any of the bags creases.
If you don t want your rug to follow a pattern you can skip sorting.
Meanwhile in norwalk iowa the mighty mat makers meet once a week at st.
These sleeping mats make great supplies for the homeless population allowing them to sleep comfortably wherever they need to.
While the blue or yellow bags can be mostly sorted together the white bags tend to have accent colors that can come out in the finished rug.
How to make plarn.
To make creating the colored rings in the rug easier i took my bags of bags and sorted the various bags into separate colors.
Approx 140 plastic bags or 1260 yds of plarn size us 11 8mm scissors.
Gauge 12 sts x 24 rows 4 10 cm in garter stitch.
500 700 plastic shopping bags for a person sized mat but can vary depending on what you re using the mat for 10mm or larger crochet hook.
Plastic bags 500 700 grocery bags knitting needles size 10 or higher or crochet needles o or p recommended scissors.
Repeat step 3 until mat measures 72 183 cm from edge.
Instead of becoming landfill plastic bags can be used for fun craft projects.
Knitters and crocheters will use their experience to test the gauge which will determine the number of plarn stitches.
It also makes a great addition to any camping trip.
So far they have spent at least 100 hours on the project producing 18 mats that have been handed out to the homeless and there are many more to come.
Crafters from the nanaimo harbour city seniors are turning plastic grocery bags into sleeping mats for the homeless.