How to make rag strips from a plastic grocery bag

You will need:
plastic grocery bags
scissors (or one of those coupon zippy cutter thingies)
a magic marker (sharpie type)
cutting mat(optional, but you don't want to get sharpie on the dining table)
ruler(go borrow one of your kids' from their school supplies)

Okay. First, find a plastic grocery bag. Make sure it is clean. If it has holes in it, that isn't as much of a problem unless you are a perfectionist.

Cut off the handles of the plastic bag as evenly as you can (see note about perfectionists, above).
Cut down the sides (Not the bottom, the sides!) of the plastic bag and open it out on the cutting surface(I used my ironing board).

Take the ruler and mark off 1 inch increments, then draw a line with the sharpie connecting the "dots."

Cut the bag on the lines.

To connect the strips:
Fold one end of a strip over about one inch and clip with the scissors perpendicular to the fold. Do the same on the other end. Repeat for each strip. Each strip should have a vertical snip hole in each end.

Next:
Bring one end of a strip("A") through the clip hole in an end of a second strip("B").

Here's the tricky part:
We have strip A sticking through the clip hole, (say an inch or two) in strip B.
Take the other end of strip A and bring it all the way through the snip hole of in the end of A which is inserted in strip B.

The resulting "bag yarn" takes a fairly large crochet hook: at least a size N, or larger.

Some notes:
Any pattern can be used with any yarn, but I wouldn't want a sweater from this kind. Since the bags come in different colors, you can make designs if you can collect enough colored bags. I did make a door mat awhile back with the grocery bag yarns. The rugs are very nice for a mud room, because you can take them out and hose them off to clean them.

I hope this makes sense.

Audrey

If someone is poor, it does not mean that he or she is non-materialistic. It means that person simply does not have the funding to give their materialistic bent full range.