Pot Scrubbies and Plarn

After I switched to using Alternasponges, I needed something scratchy.  I'm a big fan of alternative materials like plarn.  Plarn is "yarn" made out of plastic grocery bags and you can make some cool baskets and purses with them like this.  I've played around with making crocheted bags and purses out of plarn, but due to how chunky plarn is and the size of hook that needs to be used, I haven't made much else.

I had just finished a bag of clementines, so I decided to see what I could make out of the nylon stretchy bag. I ended up making a great little scrubby that has served me well for months now.  Have you ever tried to clean up dough with the scratchy side of a sponge?  It doesn't come out.  This scrubby rinsed out after using it a few more times.  We primarily use cast iron and generally one doesn't use soap or sponges that might have soap in them because it breaks down the oil that seasons it.  This scrubby doesn't hold soap like cotton or sponges and is great with cast iron. 

the original scrubby

So I decided to make another one. 

This one didn't turn out so well.   Why?  Well...

We had just finished a large bag of onions and I figured why not make another one?   I was so excited about it; I knew this was going to be last Thursday's post.  This bag had plastic sealing the edges, so I couldn't cut it like I had the clementine bag or grocery bags.  That was my first clue.

onion bag

I cut it into strips and then tied them together like a bedsheet rope, so it had a lot of ends that I probably wouldn't be able to weave in smoothly.  That was my second clue.

onion bag in strips

I crocheted them into a circle and it looked like crap.  It was rough, scratchy, and looked like a deformed purple octopus.

the aforementioned deformed purple octopus

ok, it looked way better after i tried to weave in the ends, but something about it was still off

I was frustrated, it was late, and I went to bed and ignored this blog for a couple days.  We had another bag of clementines and I ended up cutting up that bag and doing exactly what I had done the first time.  With pictures.


Making Plarn/Pot Scrubbies

step 1
Gently take off any packaging and cut off the bottom of the bag.  Cut the bag into 1" strips width-wise.  Each strip should form a circle.   

step 2
join each strip.  There are two strips in this photo, the upper one and the lower one.  Take the lower one and feed it back through the hole where my pinky is.  Tighten.

 

step 3
Do this for all the strips to form a long chain.    

step 4
If I'm using grocery bags, I tend to cut up several bags, join them all together, and then make a ball. I only used one bag for this, so no need.

step 5
now the crocheting begins:
chain 3 and join to form a circle.
SC about 6 into the circle
SC, chain 1 around the circle

I've only been able to form two rows out of a clementine bag, but if you have a particularly large bag, I'm sure more could be done.  I used an M or P crochet hook for the first scrubby and an L for the one below.  (I typically use an M or P when working with grocery bag plarn) 

yay scrubby!