EF#32: Crochet A Plastic-bag Yarn, Why Not?

I am currently doing my old hobby: crocheting. I use the term menyongket in Bahasa Indonesia since some friends say crocheting as menyulam. I learned to crochet when I was 11 or 12. Back then, my mom taught me how to do that, and I sold to my schoolmates what she made: cute hairpins, bags, mukena pouches, and pencilcases. So, now when I start to crochet again, it was like a nostalgic activity and thank God I still remember the steps.

The question is, why am I doing this again? Well, in school where I work, we have a session called craft day where my workmates share her knowledge in making crafts from recycled or used material. Last month, she taught us how to decorate used bottles, jars, and wooden cutting board using decoupage technique. This month, the material that we decided to “makeover” is plastic bag.

I am really excited about this because I am a plastic bag collector. I wrote about this here. It irritates me when I see people throw away plastic bag like they don’t know that it needs hundred years to degrade. So I decided to keep every clean plastic bag I got and use it again. This “makeover” initiated by my friend will definitely make my “collections” more useful.

How to change plastic bag into yarn? We only need to cut the plastic using scissors into 1 cm wide rope-like shape. If we fold the medium size plastic bag vertically into four, then cut it into 1 cm wide, we’ll have 20-25 parts. To make it crochetable, don’t forget to open the cut parts (its shape is circular) and cut the circle. Voila! We have a plastic yarn now! Attach all yarn into on e long yarn using double tape or simply tie them.

For me, it is unique enough. Crocheting using plastic yarn is challenging since it can break easily if we are not careful. Choosing the right plastic is also an issue since the plastic bag should be thin enough. Mine are not done yet. I just want to make a simple square “cloth” because I haven’t learned more difficult techniques. This activity makes me relaxed for a while, haha...maybe it has the same effect with coloring? You tell me if you try it already ;p

Or, if you have other fun activities that is fun enough to share, join BEC’s English Friday Challenge this week. Happy weekend!