Awhile back, a friend of mine informed me of an opportunity to do something that I thought was pretty darn cool. At one of the local community colleges, an instructor was heading up a volunteer group to make sleeping mats for the homeless. These mats are crocheted using 'plarn' (yarn made from plastic bags). The mats are supposedly better than conventional blankets, as they are easier to clean and don't attract bugs.
We both thought it was a great idea, and as we both love to crochet, we decided to give it a whirl. She picked up enough materials for the both of us to get started, and so we did.
I finished my mat recently, and I'm super proud of how it turned out. Naturally I took pictures!
It's approximately the size of a smallish blanket, which is (I think) bigger than it was supposed to be.
Oops.
All in all, I think it took easily a couple hundred bags to complete. I know I ran out of the plarn I was given pretty quickly, and had to make several balls of it to finish it up. It's easy to make, so it wasn't a huge problem, and plastic bags were always in ready supply.
It's a lot more comfortable than you'd think, too. I used a size Q hook, and the stitches are a bit squishy as a result.
(Yes, I have on green pants. Shh.)
I can't wait to drop this baby off so that it can be put to use. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I'll make another. The plarn was tough to work with, and it took forever to make any sort of progress on the mat because of it. It made my hand hurt if I spent any lengthy amount of time on it, which I didn't like.
I am glad I did it though, because after all, one is better than nothing!
And who knows, maybe I'll break down and decide to make more. I'm definitely going to be looking into more uses for plarn, as it was really fun to make!
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