Feel like going on a little fish-a-long?

First of all I just wanted to say I'm still here, but I'm way behind in my blogging...posting and reading. My non-blogging life has really got in my way. I've been doing a little knitting, but I don't have a whole lot to show you.

Today is the official start of Bits and Bobs Yahoo Group's Fish-a-long KAL. Bits and Bobs is a group that shares ideas on how to use up all your leftover odds and ends and not just yarn...all kinds of scraps. Have you ever seen this Tessellated Fish blanket? I've always admired it but directed my attention away from starting one because of the horrible thought of having to sew all those fish together. My goal is to assemble one without sewing a stitch! I sure hope I can pull it off.... we'll see. I shall keep you posted on my progress.

Here are a few of the fish I have already done:
If you are at all interested in the Fish-a-long be sure and join us in the fun and use up all your odds and ends.

Wednesday I went shopping with two of my knitted plastic bags:
I made a smaller bag to try out:
This one was knitted with smaller needles. It didn't stretch as much, but although it holds quite a bit it didn't hold as much as my original big bag. To be honest I think perhaps a size in between the very big one and the smaller one might be the answer to the perfect bag. I'm planning on making another one (medium size) soon. (Am I starting to sound like Goldilocks?)I just wish I had more time. School's out now and baseball is almost over, so hopefully I'll be starting to have more time for myself....maybe...

I must say though I caused quite the commotion at the grocery store this week. Walking the aisles with the bags in the shopping cart baby seat worker gals noticed my bags. They thought they were great! Lots of questions I might add. Then at the checkout it was almost embarrassing all the questions I got. I was worried that the people behind me were cursing me because I was holding everything up. I got much more attention with my two bags this week than with just the one bag last week. Hopefully everyone will get used to me using my knitted bags. I'll definitely keep knitting them...my Dad is giving me his bags now. Have to find time to do all my knitting ....

happy knitting :)

How to turn plastic bags into yarn (PLARN)

Recycling your plastic grocery bags into yarn is very easy. The resulting "yarn", better known as plarn, is great for knitting or crocheting reusable shopping bags or other useful items.

First, save up lots of bags. You will probably need at least 40 bags to start with. Please do not get extra bags at the store for this project...just use the ones you would normally get.

Flatten the bag out
and cut off the bottom. Then cut off the handles
This is what you end up with
Next, fold it up
so you can cut "rings" (about 1-1 1/2 " wide)
I think the following photos are self explanatory
Once you get the bag all cut up you now want to link them all together
Pull gently from both ends to secure the slip knot
Keep doing this over and over and roll up into a ball. Now you're ready to knit or crochet into whatever you want. The slip knots are hardly visible in the resulting fabric. Because you are linking the loops the plastic yarn is double ply which makes for a sturdy yarn.

Knitted plastic bag performance review:

Yesterday I tried out my first knitted plastic bag and I was very happy and satisfied with the results. I used it to carry 17 + pounds of fruits and vegetables and the bag is no worse for wear. If anything the bag was too big. It does stretch, but remains sturdy. I could have easily add more items to the bag, but as it was, it was almost too heavy to carry. My next bag will be much smaller.

I'm excited to make my next one...I really think that knitting plastic reusable bags is a very good thing :)

Knit reusable shopping bags and save the world!

Recently I've been thinking that there are way too many so called disposable plastic shopping bags being used every day. Every week I get at least 20 bags with my groceries. I never throw them away. I usually use them as trash bags. I have a kitchen trash can that works very well with the bags, but even as I use them up, they seem to multiply by themselves. There has to be a better way to use them and eventually stop needing them.

Here's my idea. Make yarn out of the bags and knit them into sturdy shopping bags that can be reused. I collected about 40 bags. To make the bags into yarn it was easy. Flatten out the bag cutting off the bottom and the handles. You now have a cylinder with two open ends. Fold it so that you can cut the bags into 1" rings. Then slip knot the rings together into a long chain. This is basically the "Calamari Knitting" technique that was decribed by Kay in the Mason-Dixon Knitting book. I ended up with a ball of plastic yarn that looked like this:
Now for the pattern. I love Maia's felted bag. Basically I used her pattern with a couple of modifications and ended up with a nice large sturdy shopping bag:
Actually I had to cut 20 more bags to finish it off. Didn't use all I cut, but I think 50 bags would probably be the magic number. It really holds a lot of stuff as you can see in this picture...there is even more room to put more in the bag, but it would probably be too heavy.

My family absolutely thinks I'm crazy. Don't know how ambitious I will be to knit too many of these bags. It's not that it's hard to knit, but I enjoy knitting with real yarn better. Now the true test will be to take it to the grocery store and see if it's as sturdy as I think it will be. Then if it works out I definitely think I'll try to make more. Wouldn't it be nice to help our planet by knitting? No cost except time and it would help to keep all those bags from filling up our landfills.

happy knitting :)