Recycle Knitting
It's amazing what you can do with plastic grocery bags, knitting needles, and a little creativity!
What is Recycle Knitting?
I love to knit, but I don't often use yarn. Instead, I like to knit things out of recycled plastic bags, discarded VHS video tapes, and even scraps of worn-out t-shirts and jeans.
Reasons for Recycle Knitting:
- Environmental Awareness (To make one tote bag, I use around 50 grocery bags. Or one discaded VHS tape. Or several old t-shirts. The more I knit, the less I send to the landfill.)
- Budget Consciousness (Plastic bags I save from the grocery store are cheaper than a ball of yarn. )
- Thrill of a Challenge (I wanted to see if I could do it--and I can!)
Recycle Knitting: the story
Way back in 2010-ish, I dropped my shampoo bottle in the shower at the gym and shattered it. Then, two days later, I did it again with a brand new bottle. When it happened a third time, I went looking for something to hold that slippery bottle. Surprisingly, I couldn't find anything that worked for what I needed. So I decided to make my own.
I heard that you could crochet with plastic bags. And I had a lot of those stuffed in my pantry. A perfect solution! Except I didn't know how to crochet.
But I was learning to knit. I had successfully finished a whole scarf that was only a little lopsided. A bag is shorter than a scarf. Easy, right? I figured it would take less than a week.
A little more than three months (& many broken bottles) later... I had my bag!
What you don't know... might be a good thing
When I started knitting with plastic bags, I expected it to be easy.
It wasn't.
I expected the project to go quickly.
It didn't.
Luckily, I didn't know what I didn't know, or I might not have discovered this talent!
I could have stopped there. I had reached my goal. But that first bag was like a rough draft. And just like a manuscript can't become a great book until it's revised and polished, my recycle knitting skills still needed work.
Since then, I've discovered new recyclable materials to knit. (VHS tapes are great ... plain t-shirts often work better than the kind with pictures on the front ... newspaper looked cool but it fell apart really fast.) But my favorite material to recycle knit with is still plastic bags.
Water Bottle Carriers
Staying hydrated is important. These water bottle carriers make it easy for me to carry my reusable water bottles with me everywhere I go. And they stretch easily, so they fit a variety of different sizes!
tote bags
Plastic grocery bags are flimsy and tear easily. But when you spin the plastic into yarn and knit with it, the resulting bags are strong enough to carry a LOT of things, and they stretch to fit a lot more than you would expect.
Sometimes, it's too much. A bag full of books might stretch until it's dragging on the ground. Not a good look! A lightweight lining fabric keeps it in shape (but it won't hold as much).
Don't ever put plastic bags on your head!
Of course I had to make a hat so I could proudly (but safely!) wear a plastic bag (or several) on my head. The beach hat made from tan plastic bags looks a lot like a straw hat, but it's much more flexible!
**note: As with the toys, I wouldn't give these hats to children young enough that they still chew on things.
This newsboy cap didn't work quite as well as the floppy beach hat, but it's still kind of cute.
If you don't want to wear a whole hat knit from plastic bags, this flower headband is cute too.
This bag is not a toy! ... Or is it?
Every plastic grocery bag warns "this bag is not a toy." So of course, I had to test the theory.
COULD it be a toy? Yes!
I wouldn't give these toys to small children who are still prone to put things in their mouths, but for slightly older children (and adults who aren't ready to grow up &stop playing), these bags can definitely be fun toys!
That's plastic?
Some of the things I've made out of recycled plastic bags are intricate enough that people are surprised to learn they started out as grocery bags.
Entrelac Purse
Entrelac is a really fun knitting technique that produces a finished product that looks like it was woven together. I made these small purses using this technique.
Bracelets
