Oh Plarn It! Recycle & Upcycle Plastic Bags
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Plarn you say? What is plarn?
Technically plarn is plastic yarn which is made by recycling plastic bags. Yes! All those plastic bags from the grocery and retail stores can be easily made into plarn which is then knitted or crocheted into plarn projects. One extremely worthwhile plarn project is to upcycle the plastic bags into plarn sleep mats for the homeless.
Upcycle & Recycle Plastic Bags Into Plarn
I’ve written a few articles on how to make plarn and the various uses for plarn. It is amazing what useful items you can turn a plastic bag into while making good use of plastic bags. A few of the popular plarn projects are: purses, grocery shopping bags, rugs, shoes, bowls, plant hangers and as you can see from the photo above – a warm and cozy snuggle blanket for pets.
However on a more serious note we also use plarn to make sleeping mats for the homeless. The needs of our community are great and this is one small way to giveback and assist those in need. Knitting or crochet needles, plastic bags (alot!) and a few hours of volunteer time is all it takes to transform your plastic bags into plarn sleep mats for homeless individuals.
Song & Spirit Institute for Peace is holding a fundraiser this Tuesday and one of the on site creative community service projects will be teaching volunteers how to make plarn and use the plarn for sleeping mats. Read more about the outreach efforts of Song and Spirit to support the needy here.
Song & Spirit At Leon & Lulu Fundraiser
On Tuesday, October 18th a plarn inspired fundraiser for Song & Spirit was held at the fun, funky and fabulous Leon & Lulu store to benefit Song & Spirit Institute for Peace.
Enjoy a fun night while supporting this worthwhile charity onsite outreach opportunities, learn how to make plarn sleeping mats, prep Carepax for the needy and browse the one-of-a-kind mosaic tiles made by volunteers of Song & Spirit.
Outreach – Plarn Sleep Mats For Homeless
On Thursday the Song & Spirit Care’avan was on the streets of metro Detroit providing supportive services to those in need and without homes. Food, hot soup, and plarn sleeping mats were distributed along with a friendly smile and supportive word.
Do plarn sleeping mats make a difference? You bet.
The weather is always a challenge for those in need. One of the recipients of a plarn sleeping mat remarked, ” how grateful he was that he would not have to look for cardboard to sleep on and try to stay warm.”
When he found out that the plarn sleeping mats were made by volunteers he said he felt it was a gift from the heart which made it “so very special.”
How To Make Plarn
If you are interested in learning how to upcycle, recycle and turn your plastic bags into plarn the following posts explain how:
How To Make Plarn Projects With Plastic Yarn – free plarn patterns
Turning Plastic Bags Into Sleep Mats For Homeless
Image Credit: Song & Spirit Institute of Peace, consent of Care-avan recipients, The Savvy Age, Margaret G.
I have seen people make beautiful things from “plarn” but never have heard that name!
I’ve seen some wonderfully creative projects made of plarn … !
Awesome idea! I never thought about this one.
Thanks! I can’t take credit for the original idea of course, but it is a very beneficial project for the community.
Love the creativity
Thanks and thanks for visiting!
How interesting! This is such a great idea. I’ve never heard of plarn before.
So many great uses for plarn 🙂 – thanks for visiting!
Thanks for sharing, Did not know anything about this till now.
How wonderful! I had an aunt who taught me how to crochet using strips of plastic bags when I was a little girl; I didn’t know there was actually a name for this and that the creations could help the homeless!
Your Aunt was a trendsetter 🙂
Wow, i never knew this.Great educational and environmental friendly piece
Thanks for visiting! Yes, there are so many great ways to upcycle with plarn 🙂
That is such a cool idea!! I need to learn to do this!
It’s amazing what you can do w plarn !
What a great idea to reuse plastic bags! I’d never heard of this before!
Welcome to the world of plarn 🙂
What a great way to reuse!
It really is a great way to recycle and upcycle!
Many modern ‘hi-tech’ clothing such as the fleece jackets often worn by outdoor enthusiasts are made at least partially from recycled plastic bottles – another useful idea instead of just dumping them in landfill.
Interesting … wonder if I could use plarn to make a jacket? Now you have me thinking ….!
Wow!! I read your title at first and was like… what in the world is plarn?! Now, I’m amazed!! You learn something new every day! Sharing this on my twitter now!!
Thanks for the share! 🙂
Thank you for sharing, very creative. xx
This is such a great way to recycle and give back to the community!
What a wonderful thing to do! I had no idea that plarn even existed.
I had never heard of plarn! What a great idea and perfect for cats!
I had never heard of plarn before. It’s a really good idea! I could see so many good uses for it.
This is really interesting. I never heard of plarn before, thank you for this
What a great idea! My daughter got a puse a few years ago made from bags but these mats are fantastic. I will have to see if we can make some for our community. I like that they could be rinsed off, rolled up are light weight and basically free.
So many great uses for plarn – and you are right, basically free material !
That is so cool — I have never even heard of it.
A great idea for recycling items. And is very useful as well. 🙂
xoxo, G
http://moreliketwins.com
I’ve never heard of plarn! What a great idea for recycling.
I love this idea! I think I’ve seen plarn before at stores. I really love that you gave back to your community. I know he appreciated it so much!
What a cool idea! Awesome that you wrote about it because I heard about first time
Thanks for visiting 🙂
This is such a great idea! There’s so much plastic out there if we can make blankets out of them, this will definitely help shelter more of the homeless.