Crochet a Tote from Recycled Grocery Bags? Why Not?

On another blog of mine we were discussed the fact that many cities are supposedly "going green" by outlawing the use of plastic bags at the grocery or stores like Walmart, etc. I didn't like this because I use these bags for sooo many reasons I can't even count them all. Just brainstorm idea's to reuse them I could come up with 20 without even trying. Instead of outlawing them all together I would love to see education on where and how to recycle them (did you know your grocery and your local Walmart have bins to deposit them in? They don't let you know this... but if you look around on your own you'll find it.)

Yesterday, on a whim I decided to see if I could use them to make a durable, hand held tote bag. With nothing more to go on than my own imagination I took about 12 bags and visualized what I wanted to do.


I folded/rolled the bags up and cut off the bottom glued strip and the handles. I then cut each bag into 1 inch strips.


I looped the strips together through each other to form a long chain of bags to make a 'rope' or 'string'.


I then dug my old *unused* crochet hook out. This was a 6N size but I would have had to look harder and longer through boxes in storage to find the larger size so I just used this one.

Back when I was about 7 years old my mother or grandmother taught me to do a running chain stitch. I hadn't thought about that until I re-taught myself when I was about 32 just by picking up a crochet hook and figuring out what worked. That's what you can do too. It's not hard... really.


At first I started to do a circular pattern on the bottom but I realized that not being a seasoned crocheter I was going to end up with a 'wine bottle' shaped bag instead of a tote. I ripped it out and decided to make the tote bag body first. I made a large loop, the width of the bag, and continued to crochet the plastic around and around.

Had I continued I would have made it about 15 inches long, resulting in the body of the tote being 15 inches in length and it was about 17 inches across.


However, I got bored.

I was going to crochet a flat bottom and then stitch it to the body and add some crocheted handles, but my boredom was such that I kept thinking; You know, if I wanted to use these plastic bags as a tote I could, you know, just grab one and put something in it and carry it! And in the end I was bored and stopped. LOL.

But it was good to know I could make one if I wanted to. :)