Looking for a weekend project, but your craft stores are still closed? Try recycling those pesky plastic grocery bags into yarn! These plastic strips can be used like any other string in knitting, crocheting, or simple weaving projects. Plastic yarn is durable and makes great reusable shopping bags or mats.

Follow this simple tutorial to get your yarn going, then use in your next fiber project!

Download a PDF of this activity here.

What you’ll need:

• Plastic grocery bags (as many as you can find)
• Scissors

Step One:

Gather your supplies.

Step Two:

Take one plastic bag and lay flat. Cut off the handles, so that you have a straight even edge.

Step Three:

Starting at one side seam, begin to cut a 1” wide strip across the width of the bag.

Step Four:

Continue to cut, spiraling as you go, so that you are cutting one long continuous strand. It is okay if the thickness varies, or if you accidentally cut it too soon. You’ll just have some shorter strips to work with.

Step Five:

            Once you reach the end of your bag, wind your “yarn” into a ball. Move on to the next bag and repeat until you have enough to create a project! You can then knit, crochet, weave, or braid the strips to create fun, usable projects!