Home & Garden: Plastic Bag Rug

As the newspapers are fond of telling us, disposing of non-biodegradable plastic grocery bags in an environmentally safe manner is a perpetual problem. However, this is one situation where you can definitely use lemons to make lemonade! With a little time, you can transform these bags into something you can use, simultaneously doing something nice for the planet and something frugal for yourself.

Our rug or doormat is made from shopping bag "yarn". A variety of methods can be used for making this yarn, but we particularly like the technique described by Tim MacNolan on the Instructables site. (The site is well worth a look regardless of whether you do this craft: it encompasses an encyclopedic list of cool projects, including many uses for plastic bags.)

With the MacNolan method, one cuts across the bag to make many loops. The loops are then joined together to form a strand. (See illustration below.) We like this because it's very straightforward to add additional loops to the yarn as needed. What you do with the resulting yarn is limited only by your imagination. MacNolan describes making shopping bags. We've made a rug/doormat; it's basically just a big rectangle, which makes it a nice approachable project for novice crocheters. Although its non-grippy texture makes it unsuitable for slippery floors, it should be safe enough for rougher surfaces. In addition, it's readily hosed off.

Supplies

• plastic bags - and lots of 'em!
• size K or larger crochet hook
• scissors

Preparing the bags

Crocheting the rug
Ch 35, or as many as necessary to make your piece the desired width. (Ours is about 18" wide.)

Sc 40 rows, or as many as necessary to make your piece the desired length. (Ours is about 24" long.)

If desired, you can add a "girly" touch by crocheting a wavy border around the edge; simply dc three or four times in each stitch.

Fasten off the yarn, and weave the loose ends into the rug to disguise them.

Making flowers
For an ultra-tacky touch, add a few simple flowers.

From a contrasting plastic, cut slightly thinner strips, approximately 3/4" wide. Join a few of them together to make a strand of yarn.

Rnd 1: Starting at the center of the flower, ch 3. Join with sl st to form a ring.
Rnd 2: Ch 4, (dc in ring, ch 1) 7 times. Join to 3rd ch of ch 4 with a sl st.

Fasten off yarn, and weave it through one of the dcs until it's at the center of the flower, near the other end. Use the two ends to tie the flower to the rug.

If you're running short of contrasting bags, you can also make smaller flowers:

Rnd 1: Starting at the center of the flower, ch 2. Join with sl st to form a ring.
Rnd 2: Ch 2, (sc in ring, ch 1) 7 times. Join to 2nd ch of ch 2 with a sl st.

Fasten off yarn, and use it and the other yarn end to tie the flower to the rug.