Past Projects

Nana made baby E a travel bag for his upcoming travels. This one holds a big bag of diapers.

This is a plarn (plastic yarn) clothes pin bag made for a Christmas gift for a cousin of mine.

Just a few more scarves...

A long overdue blanket for my friend's little boy. Two layers of fleece, hundreds of snips with the scissors and as many tied knots later and voila...

He loves the blanket!

Plarn Club

Today was the beginning of Plarn Club. I made myself a plarn (plastic yarn) lunch bag which I take to work with me every day. Some of the kids at school have asked me to show them how to make them. One little boy in particular has asked me daily when the "club" is starting. Today, I spent lunch hour teaching him the technique for how to cut the bags into strips and join them together to create plarn. He is going to work on this project over spring break and then we'll get to work on his project - a back pack/messenger bag - when we come back to school. Quite ambitious and I suspect I will be doing the crocheting for this but I don't really mind.

It was quite interesting today how he opened up and really talked to me about what was on his mind while we were crafting together. The conversation really flowed. It just reminded me that as a teacher we connect with students in so many ways and on different levels and how important these connections are to students. It was kind of a "moment" for me today. It was nice to connect with a student through a shared interest. It also reinforces to me that students need to have many different experiences in their schooling - and that you never know how you are going to reach a student.

Net Shopping Bag - Plarn

I just finished this plarn bag. I found the pattern on www.myrecycledbags.com

This bag was created using the plastic bags that my tupperware came in. Each piece was wrapped in a clear plastic bag and since I had such a successful tupperware party, I had plenty of material to work with.

The net pattern allows the bag to stretch to fit whatever is inside. It didn't take long to make as it had an open design.

Plarn Shopping Bag

I made this plarn shopping bag for my friend VHN's daughter. Her daughter is very eco-friendly and VHN said that she thought she would enjoy a bag made out of recycled plastic bags. I just made a larger version of this bag. I started with 30 chains across and then followed the pattern from there. I had to adjust the placement of the handles to fit the bag. It worked out pretty good. I had started it awhile ago but ran out of Sobey's bags. Thanks to my sister for saving hers for me.

I placed the wooden spoon beside it to show about how big it is.

Here are 25 reasons to use reusable shopping bags.

Giant Tiger Plarn Bag

I finished this bag for a student of mine. He brought me 40+ lovely yellow Giant Tiger bags and then asked me to make him something. I made this little bag from this free pattern at www.myrecycledbags.com

Now of course all of the rest of the children in the class want me to make them a bag too. One boy even brought me 10 plastic bags. I told them that if they want me to crochet the bag for them they have to make the plarn. We are now going to have a lunch club to make plarn!

If they want the bag, they will have to do some of the work for it. Sounds like fun!

Plarn

My latest hobby is making plarn (plastic yarn) and then creating bags out of the plarn. I have made several different plarn bags. I found the patterns at myrecycledbags.com. I have completed 4 bags and have two more on the go. I just need to get a few more bags to finish them off.

I even used a plarn bag as a door prize for a tupperware party I had. People thought I was a little crazy at first - you're cutting apart plastic bags to make more plastic bags? - but once they have seen the finished product they think it is pretty cool. Many of my co-workers have given me their plastic bags to turn into something cool. One of my students actually pulled a large bag of Giant Tiger bags out of his backpack and asked me to make something for him with them. That is the current project! How could I refuse?

Here are a few of my plarn bags:

Crochet

My maternal grandmother taught me to crochet one summer. It was a terribly hot August and so we retreated into the basement where my mother told me I was to "spend time with grandma" out of the heat. This was where I first learned to crochet - and with fine crochet cotton!

Now I enjoy using mainly different yarns - cotton, acrylics and plarn (plastic yarn). I crochet dishcloths, plarn bags and my latest interest is amigurumi - little tightly crocheted creatures (see the links).

This is a hotpad that I made to go with my snowman dishes. It is two layers.