DIY Yarn from Grocery Sacks

When I was a teenager, one of the service projects we did at our church was making yarn out of plastic grocery sacks. The yarn would be collected and shipped to Africa where the women could crochet and/or knit the yarn into products they could sell.

I’m learning how to crochet right now so I thought some grocery sack yarn would be a great way to learn without going through tons of normal yarn. This Is how I make my grocery sack yarn:

1. Lay your grocery bag flat…
2. Cut the bottom off of your grocery sack and straighten out the pleats that are at the bottom of the sack…
3. Cut across the top of the sack (so you cut off the handles and have a nice, straight edge)…
4. You will now have a loop with two sides being on the fold, and two sides open. Take one folded side and fold it up to the other side, but leave an inch overlap (see the picture)…
5. Fold the bottom up again, and again (without folding over that inch overlap)…
6. Cut one inch strips, only to the top of the folded edge…
7. Open your bag and put your arm along the part of the bag that hasn’t been cut yet…

8. Cut diagonally from one slit to the other (follow the diagram below-cut where the red lines are)…

   
9. You will now have one long strand of yarn. Tie the ends to other strands and wrap it up into a nice ball.

Alternatively, I did find this method for making plastic bag yarn here.