QUILTER JAN

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Thursday, March 25, 2010

What is "Plarn?"



"Plarn " is the words plastic and yarn put together to make a new word plarn. It is plastic bags cut into 2" strips that are tied together to form long strips that are crocheted into bed mats for the homeless. The first picture shows "Plarn" rolled into ball. The second picture shows it crocheted into a partial mat---it only shows part of the mat---the mat is 54" wide and will be 72" long. The third picture show a closeup of the crocheting---it is done with a double crochet.


My friend Jackie got me started with this --------her church is doing this as a project. You can read about it at Lutheran Church charities . The video tells all about it---how to cut the plastic bags and how to crochet them together. They use a single crochet, but Jackie's group is using a double crochet, which is going faster, IMHO! Jackie has been cutting all the bags for the one that I am crocheting, but now she wants to learn how to do the double crochet stitch so she can put them together as well. A single mat takes 500-700 bags! It's such a great way to get these bags out of the landfills and from along the highways! Seems like I always see one hanging from a tree, flapping in the breeze!

There are so many different charities that we can serve no matter where we are---seems like they just show up at the doorstep when you least expect them---keep your heart open as to where you can serve and one will find you!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!


Jan

6 comments:

Wilma Lee said...

Plastic yarn from grocery bags.

Wilma Lee said...

Well. at least I was right, lol. I bought a purse from a patient once that was crocheted from bags.

Barb said...

What an awesome thing to do!!

Debi said...

Wow Jan that is great and they look good. I don't have any plastic bags any more as I have the cloth ones I take to the store.

Allie said...

My mom was doing this until her arthritis got so bad - it is not easy to crochet with plastic bags!

YankeeQuilter said...

This is a new one on me! I suppose you could do a single crochet if you used a larger hook...