The prize

Recycled plastic bag

Yeni picked this one. I think it needs a clasp of some sort. What do you think?

Now I have to figure out how to get it to the USA. ;-)

Pick your prize
We have a winner!
Guess what this is?

Pick your prize!

Pick your prize, Yeni R, winner of the 'Guess what it is' contest!

These are some of my handmade, one of a kind, recycled plastic market bags and purses.

Here are some approximate sizes to give you an idea:

blue purse 6" high x 8" wide
orange market bag with long white handles (at left) 12" x 14"
orange market bag with short white handles (in middle) 10" x 13"

If you would like a close up on one of these, let me know. If you want to see some more, let me know about that, too. ;-) You can email me or message me on Facebook.

Celebrate 2009

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Enjoy the 2009 highlights video. Funny!

~~~~~~~~~~~

El Jefe and I have been enjoying a movie marathon during the past week or so.

I recommend The Hunting Party with Richard Gere, if you haven't seen it. (This is from 2007; don't confuse it with the 1970's Hunting Party.) Richard Gere and Terrence Howard are journalists who decide to capture a war criminal in Bosnia, though it isn't near as dark as that may sound. The movie gives a shocking view of the "international community", the incompetent United Nations, and the duplicitous US.

Another movie that we enjoyed was Defiance, a movie about Jews fighting back in Belarus during World War II. Both of these movies are based on true stories. By the way, El Jefe gives both movies a thumbs up as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~

For the first time, I cooked a traditional pork leg for Christmas. Yum! I will do that again. That made for a lot of lazy meals of sliced pork sandwiches on homemade rolls − a favorite holiday meal in La Ceiba, believe it or not.

Yesterday − all day − Arexy and I made tamales with the leftover pork. That was another first. It was a bit of the case of the blind leading the blind since Arexy had only made them once years ago, but we muddled through it and they turned out pretty well in the end. The photo shows some of the 36 tamales that we made.

There was a bit of a disaster but with my gringa ingenuity, I repaired that. For those who have been in on previous tamale conversations, steaming is the way to go. I will never let anyone talk me into boiling tamales (the Honduran way) again.

I made a new ice cream which is a delectable substitute for my former all time favorite: Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar, which I haven't had in nine long years! I'll give you the recipe some time. Remind me if I forget.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Since I can never just sit and watch television, movie watching came with a lot of crocheting. I was working on using up some of my plastic bag stash. These are some of my latest recycled plastic bag bags. Pretty cool, huh?

I've been having a great and hugely needed break and will probably get back to regular blogging after the New Year.

Honduras flag bag

¿Qué piensa?

What do you think?

;-)

My favorite plastic bags (so far)

Pretty in pink bag

These photos are of two of my favorite crocheted plastic bag bags. I was trying to arrange a photo a little more artistically than I usually do (by plopping it down in a chair and snapping a photo). In my mucus-induced brain fog, I couldn't decide which photos I liked best, so here are all of them.

The pink bag supply came all the way from Indiana, USA! Aighmeigh sent them to me. Thank you, Aighmeigh! I'd love to get more of these pale pink bags but since they were a special bag for breast cancer awareness month in October, they probably aren't still available. The purple and hot pink writing on the bag made for nice purple and pink flecks when crocheted.

Honestly, this bag turned out so nicely that I would use it for a purse! I had to make it small because there were only 32 pink bags and the mostly bright colors that I have made the pale pink looked washed out.

I lucked onto TWO of these muted pinkish-purplish and green striped bags that I thought looked great with the pale pink with purple flecks. I was worried the whole time that I wouldn't have enough and would have to rip it out and redesign it, but I ended up with an extra ONE INCH of the trim bag and about a bag and a half of pink left over. Oh, happy day. Sometimes things work out the way you want them to.

Sherbet stripes

The striped bag was an effort to use a bunch of very small, very thin, different colored striped bags. I winged it and ripped out and restarted this project so many times. I wasn't entirely happy with the way the bottom row turned out. I crocheted the sides of the bag horizontally and connecting them to the base as I went along was difficult to do neatly.

I figured out a way to make a sturdy round tube handle that I like very much. It has a nice feel in the hand. The bottom of this bag matches the handles. I ran out of the plain white bags and used strips from a different heavier bag for the trim around the top. It actually worked out well since this bag is very soft and supple and the heavier trim helps to hold the shape.

Since I've been sick for almost 3 weeks :-{ , I've been doing lots of crocheting and have several more bags to show you soon, including the 'manly man' bag I made for my contest winner, Don Ray in Panama.




By the way, I'm on my third round of antibiotics. This one is also used to prevent anthrax, tuberculosis, and the plague! Seriously, Medline says so. So if this one doesn't work, I think I'll just kill myself. I am a mucus factory. If mucus could be sold by the ounce, I'd be a millionaire many times over. In two and a half weeks, I've only been able to sleep through the night one time. Man, did that feel good.

The little bag of crochet supplies

El Jefe seemed to be getting a little annoyed with all my plastic bag crocheting paraphernalia laying on the table all the time. 'Keeping things in order' is a strong Honduran trait. Leaving half-finished sewing and craft projects and supplies laying around is a strong La Gringa trait. To appease him, I took up the habit of stuffing it all in a little, flimsy plastic bag so the table would look a little neater.

Then it came to me! What am I doing? I should have a plastic bag bag to store my things in.

My all time favorite plastic bags are these bright pink and yellow striped bags but they aren't real common. I don't have enough to make an entire bag with so I made myself a mini bag to store my scissors and hooks and notes.

Ain't it cute?

I wonder where the idea for the little circle decorations came from.....

Hmmm, could it be this?

La Gringa finally gets her rain gauge

La Gringa's tropical-sized rain gauge

I can't help myself, I like facts and figures. It annoys me that there is no official recording of rainfall amounts for Honduras. Why? Panama has measurements! Of course, it varies a lot by area, so even if there were "official" measurements at the La Ceiba airport, I would want to do my own. It often rains in town when it doesn't here and vice versa.

I searched the internet for ages looking for a tropical-sized rain gauge with no luck. Some gauges are very large but still only measure 5-6 inches (13-15 cm.) of rain. I fell in love with this copper design in August 2006 but it was too small. When you are in the midst of a tropical storm, you don't exactly feel like going out in the rain to empty the gauge two or three times a day.

Then in March 2007 I joked about my 55-gallon drum rain gauge. While functional, I was looking for something just a bit more attractive than that. I was going use a 12-inch straight-sided vase that I had and have a base made similar to the copper one. Anxious to get started with my gringa-obsession of measuring, one day I stuck the vase out in garden, partially obscured and protected from dogs, I thought. But nothing escapes Chloe in her domain. Need I say more?

One day we saw these huge 24 inch (61 cm.) straight-sided vases at a hardware store and bought two of them − one will get broken, right? So, half the problem was solved. I was still talking about "my" rain gauge in March 2008. Who says I don't have patience? It only took us 28 months to get this rain gauge made.

El Jefe talked to several iron workers about making it. Some didn't have the right equipment to do the curves, some didn't want to bother with a small job, and two took our drawing and measurements and just never bothered to make it and lost the drawing. (When will we learn to keep a copy?)

We finally found someone willing to do it. Of course, he completely ignored our drawing and measurements but it turned out nice just the same. The base is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) so that it goes into the ground very deeply and is secure even when the ground is saturated.

El Jefe painted it for me and he was so eager to put it out that I didn't get a chance to mark the inches on it. I'll do that when this rain stops (check back with me in 6 months or so) and in the meantime, I'm carrying a ruler out there to measure.

I like it. I'm happy.

By the way, from sometime early Thursday morning until Friday morning, we had a whopping 16 inches of rain (41 cm.)! And that is a fact, not a guess.

La Gringa's recycled plastic market bag

La Gringa's Recycled Plastic Market Bag

Did I overwhelm you with tips and instructions? I hope not! Recycling your plastic bags by crocheting a market bag is not complicated at all. This pattern uses only the single crochet and chain stitches and one slip stitch. Can't get much easier than that, can it?

Here is a basic pattern which you can make your own by varying the colors, size, and thickness of your plarn (plastic yarn). I used the familiar heavyweight orange and white striped Honduran grocery bags cut in 1 inch loops using the square-knot method. BUT, that is not what I want you to do since I wouldn't wish the torture bag on anyone. Please do read the tips linked below before you start. I want you to have a good experience.

The flimsy, handled grocery bags are much easier to crochet. If you are going to use these bags, I suggest using using 1-2" loops with the square knot method, or 1 1/2 to 2" strips using the single strip methods #2 or #3. An N hook (9 mm.) works well with the square knot double loops. A smaller hook, maybe H or I, will work better with the single strips. A very rough estimate is that you will need 50-60 handled grocery bags.

If you are going to use a heavyweight bag like a department store bag, cut your loops only 1/2" wide for the square knot method or 1/2 to 1" for the other two single strip methods. This market bag used 25 18x24" bags (46x61 cm.), but by using thinner strips, you may need only 15-20 heavyweight bags.

Experiment with a swatch so you'll have an idea of how your particular bags and choices will vary in size and thickness. The pattern is easy to adjust even for a beginner, since it is based on inches rather than number of stitches.

The swatches in this photo will give you an idea of the effect of different bags and different size plarn and hooks. Click to enlarge any of the photos in your browser.


La Gringa's Basic Market Bag pattern

Make square bottom base: Chain loosely 30 times (approximately 14 inches). This is where you'll adjust to the width of your bag. Add or reduce chains to get the width of the bag that you want −12-16" is good (30-40 cm.)

*Ch 1, turn, sc in each stitch across. Repeat from *, until the bottom base of the bag is 3-4 inches wide (8-10 cm.), or the depth that you want. You'll be crocheting with the right side facing you at all times.

First round of bag sides: Crochet 1 more sc in the corner stitch, sc in each stitch across the short end, *2 sc in the corner stitch, sc in each stitch across. Repeat from * until you have reached the beginning of the first round. No need to slip stitch into the previous row.

Subsequent rounds: Sc in each sc around. Repeat until the sides measure about 11 inches tall (28 cm.), or about an inch (2.5 cm.) less than the final height that you want. End at the middle of one of the short sides.

Planning the handles: Lay the bag flat and count the number of stitches showing on one side of the top row. Divide that number by 3 to determine how many stitches in one-third of the top edge (12 stitches in my case).

Make handle opening: Sc in each stitch across the first one-third, loosely chain 15 skipping the next one-third of the stitches. You'll want the chain to be an inch or two (2.5-5 cm.) longer than the area that you skip. Adjust the length of your chain so that the size of the handle opening is pleasing to you. Sc in each sc in the final third on that side and first third on the other side. Ch 15 (or the number that you have selected), skipping the next third of top of bag, sc in each sc to beginning of round.

Form handle: Sc in each sc and each chain around.

Final 2-3 rounds: Sc in each sc around until the handle is the thickness that you want. On final round, join to beginning sc with a slip stitch. Pull the end through the loop to finish off. On the inside of the bag, neatly weave in 2-3 inches of the plarn tail using a smaller hook. Cut excess.

You are done! Or maybe not....

To edge or not to edge

You can quit here, or if desired, make an edging around the top edge and the handle opening using a complimentary or contrasting color. I found that the top edge gaped open a little more than I liked. To "tighten it up" and to give the bag a more finished look by eliminating the chains showing around the top edge, I used a smaller hook (H in this case) and a single 1" wide piece of plarn cut from only the orange stripes of my bag to crochet a reverse single crochet stitch all around the edges.

Originally, I tried some other edging stitches but none looked right. They all seemed too heavy and bulky for the plastic that I was using. The reverse single crochet in a thinner plarn seemed to cover the edge best on this bag, though I did have to do two stitches in a few spots to get good coverage.

Reverse single crochet is also sometimes called rope edging, crab stitch, or backwards single crochet. It is made by doing a normal single crochet stitch from the front side of your work, but doing it from left to right. It can be a little tricky and if you don't hold your hook right, you'll end up with another row of chains showing at top. Here are two good videos which demonstrate the stitch and show how it should look when completed. Note how loose they hold the loops on the hook.

Reverse single crochet

Crab stitch edging


You can also decorate the bag with something cute or kitschy, like a crocheted flower, star, snowflake, silk flowers, decorative buttons, or whatever strikes your fancy. Use a large blunt needle with upholstery thread or fishing line to attach it to the bag.

Enjoy! And if you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll try to answer right away. I'd love to see your finished bags so if you can send me a photo, that would be great.

By special request, in a later article, I'll post the basic instructions in Spanish, too.

Related articles:

3 methods of making plastic yarn

Tips for avoiding the plastic torture bag

Need more plastic bags! Must have plastic bags!

Sneak preview: The plastic bag bag

3 methods of cutting plastic yarn

Balls of plarn (plastic yarn)

Plarn is a clever name for plastic yarn. Plastic isn't really anything like yarn, but the name incorporates the idea that you will be using it for needlework, as strange as that sounds. Before you start cutting, be sure to read the tips in "Tips for avoiding the plastic torture bag." Most importantly, before cutting up all of your plastic bags, cut just a few first and make a small swatch to see how comfortable it is to work with and whether you are getting the size and thickness that you want for your project.

So how do you get from this (your stash of plastic bags) to the plarn shown above? Gather up your bags, a pair of scissors, and a ruler or yardstick. Here are step-by-step instructions to cut plarn in three different ways. Click on any of the photos to show them larger in your browser window.


Method #1 - Loops with square knot

The first method results in a double thickness of plastic so keep that in mind when determining the width to cut the plastic. I don't recommend this method for heavyweight bags. This method is a little faster to cut and after knotting about 10 bags, you'll become a knotting machine and have them connected in no time.

Lay down one bag, smooth out the wrinkles and squeeze out the air by running your hand over it from the bottom seam to the top. Fold neatly into thirds.

Cut off the bottom seam and the handles, if any. Fold in half or thirds again so that you have a thickness that will be easy to cut.


Lay the folded bag against a yardstick and with scissors make snips to mark your desired cutting lines, for example, every inch or two inches (2.5 or 5 cm.). Even quicker is to snip only every other cut. Pick up the folded bag and hold it carefully to finish cutting the strips apart, eyeballing where to make the center cut if you only marked every other cut. The plastic will slide around a little but don't worry if your strips are not all the exact size.

You'll end up with a pile of loops like this. If your plastic bags vary slightly in color or opacity, connect them together randomly so that the difference won't be noticeable. If they are significantly different, you could ball them separately for a striped project.

The loops are connected by making a square knot. No tails to deal with later! Shake out the loops.

Place the end of loop #1 on top of loop #2. In this photo, I'm calling loop #1 (white and blue) the long piece and loop #2 (yellow) the short or new piece. If you've already joined several pieces or have starting making your ball, this will be loop #1 and it will be your stationary side.


Pull the end of loop #2 up and over loop #1 back toward itself.







Feed the other end of loop #2 through the loop you've just made. Now you see why the "long" piece is stationary. It is much quicker to pull one length through to make the knot than to have to pull a long length of plastic.



Pull gently and evenly to make the knot. Tip: I found that by keeping my thumb in the loop as I pulled helped to make a neater knot. Pull out your thumb just before you finish the knot.

Leave the knot slightly loose as it may need adjustment later as you crochet. Tighten it just before you crochet that section. It may be hard to believe, but the knots are really not noticeable in the end product.

Don't worry. After you do a few of these, it goes really fast.



Method #2 - Long Single Strip

The second method cleverly results in one long piece without knots or joining but requires a little bit more careful cutting. This method is especially good for heavier weight plastic, like department store bags. You could also crochet together two or even three thin strips of different colors for a tweedy or variegated look, but that would probably only work for the thinner plastic and you might want to cut only 1/2" (1.25 cm) strips.

Start preparing the bag in the same manner as above (smoothing and folding) but leave about an inch (2.5 cm.) unfolded at the top. Mark and make your cuts but do not cut into the one-inch area at the top of the folded bag.

When you have made all the cuts, shake out the plastic, leaving the cut loops dangling and spread the uncut area over your left hand.

Make an angled cut from the left cut edge of loop #1 at the bottom of your hand to the right edge of loop #1 at the top of your hand.

Make the next cut from the left cut edge of loop #2 at the bottom of your hand to the left cut edge of loop #1 at the top of your hand. Continue in this manner until you have one long strip. It's hard to describe but easy to decipher if you look at this photo.

Method #3 - Joined Single Strips

The third method can be really tedious but I liked it when cutting thinner pieces for the trim work as the knots were virtually indiscernible. This method worked well for all weights of plastic and for odd parts of the bag and flat pieces of plastic that wouldn't work using method 1 or 2.

Prepare and cut the plastic as in method #1 above, cutting to the desired width and the longest lengths that you can. Fold over about a half-inch (1.25 cm) of the end of one strip and make a short snip in the center of the fold, being careful not to cut through to the end of the plastic. Do this at each end of each piece.


Fold one end of the short strip in half lengthwise and poke it through the snipped hole on the long strip (step #1 in the photo) − like you are threading a needle. Pull it through a couple of inches and then fold the other end of the short strip lengthwise and thread it through the hole at the opposite end of the same strip (step #2 in the photo). Pull the short strip completely through the eye. Carefully push the "knot" down and tighten it only enough so that it won't be bulky (step #3).

Here is a closeup in case you are having trouble following my instructions. The long strip is on the left and the short is on the right.

This method makes an almost invisible knot which is good for trim areas or decorations where square knot might be too bulky and a knot with tails would be more noticeable.

It can also be used for joining pieces made using method #2 above, but remember that you will have to pull the entire length through the "eye".


After you have a long length of plarn, or as you are connecting the pieces, roll it up into a ball. I like to roll mine in balls of 10 bags so that I have an idea of how many I've used and how many more bags I'll need. This also helps to estimate your bag needs on a future project. The yellow ball in the photo at top was 10 bags and the orange ball was only 5. That should have tipped me off that I was getting into the torture bag.

All of these methods can also be used for rag crocheting as well. From the information I've been getting from my readers lately, plastic bags may be becoming extinct in some areas! That's great for the environment and I'm very happy to hear it. I imagine that it will be 50 years before that happens in Honduras, but I'll happily switch to rag crocheting if it does occur in my lifetime.

Related articles:

Tips for avoiding the plastic torture bag

Need more plastic bags! Must have plastic bags!

Sneak preview: The plastic bag bag

Tips for avoiding the plastic torture bag

The Torture bag,

I call this my torture bag as it was pure torture making it. I swear that I'm not exaggerating. If I wasn't so stubborn, I would have never finished this bag. After crocheting for about an hour, my hands and fingers would ache so badly. I measured the height about every inch asking myself, is it done yet?

This plastic is heavy and even though I cut it half the width (1" [2.5 cm.]) of the flimsier bags, it was still too thick. Since I had already cut all the plastic in advance (not following my tip below), I was stuck completing the bag with this same size plarn. Thankfully, El Jefe gave me some fabulous hand and finger massages to try to ease the pain.

Originally I thought that the yellow and white flimsy grocery bags were a little painful to crochet. After doing the orange bag, I realized that those flimsy bags were much easier.

I'll give you my patterns in future article. In the meantime, I thought I would pass on some tips so you won't jump into the project and make the same mistakes that I did. Here are some tips that I can recommend to you after doing this:

General plastic tips

When using two types of bags that are almost the same color, but not quite, I'd suggest alternating the strips in a random manner as you make the balls of plarn. Making several rows of one shade and then several rows of another slightly different shade or opacity will be noticeable − unless that is the look you are going for. Even white is not always the same white as shown in the photo below.

Stick to one thickness of plastic if you can. The size and thickness of the stitch will vary with the weight of the plastic, even if the strips are cut to the same size. You might be able to adjust for a heavier plastic by cutting it slightly narrower. Or try mixing the two weights of plastic together randomly as mentioned above.

The unused parts of the plastic bags can be used to stuff toys or outdoor cushions. If the pieces are stuffed into a plastic bag before stuffing the object, it will be semi-waterproof.

Preparing and cutting the plarn

If the bags are really dirty (like fast food ooze or a fried chicken smell), wash them first and hang to dry. Once the strips are crocheted, any gunk in the bag will be sealed up inside the stitch − not nice. Otherwise, I didn't bother to wash them.

When preparing to cut, lay the bag flat, smooth it from the bottom seam up to squeeze out the air, and fold it neatly. This is just to make your cutting easier and more accurate. Any wrinkles in the bag will not be noticeable in the finished project.

There are three basic ways to cut and join the plarn (plastic yarn). They each have their advantages and all can be tedious. (Cuesta!) I have so many step by step photos of the plarn preparation that I will include them in a separate article tomorrow.

One good idea is to prepare part of the plarn, work on your project until your hands get sore, then give them a break while you prepare more plarn.

Cut the strips according to the thickness of the plastic and the size of your hook. For example, using an N hook (9 mm.), I cut the normal flimsy, handled grocery bags to about 2" wide (5 cm.). The heavier orange and white standard Honduran bags and heavy department store bags were cut about 1" wide (2.5 cm.). You may cut thinner strips if you will be using a smaller hook. I've started another one using the heavyweight bags and I'm using single 1/2" (1.25 cm.) strips, not doubled − MUCH easier to crochet and the bags go much further! The end product is much more flexible as well. I'm going to experiment with that because I used a ton of bags!

The measurements of the strips don't have to be exact. I put a ruler, or even better, a yardstick, on top of the folded bag and snipped a short cut to mark the spots. I then picked up the folded bag to cut the folded strips apart. When cutting 1" pieces, I made a snip every two inches and eyeballed the middle of the snips for the 1" cut. I did the same thing for 1/2" pieces.

When using the square knot method of making the plarn, keep the knot loose. You may find that the two sides of the loop don't line up after you crochet it. Loosen the knot, adjust the two sides and pull the knot firmly in the center of the two sides just before you crochet it.

If you have to tie a knot with tails (least desirable method), leave about 1-2" on both ends to be crocheted in. Shorter ends seem to pop loose and stick out.

Crocheting the plastic

Crocheting with plastic takes a lot more effort than with more smooth and flexible yarn. After an hour or two at a time, my hands were tired and achy! Make an effort to relax your hands and try to keep an even, but loose tension in your stitches. Don't make your stitches too tight. When picking up the project after a break, make sure that your tension is the same as the last time or you'll end up with a different size.

Scrub your hook with a plastic scrubby and wash your hands every hour or so if you find that the paint or dye is rubbing off. The paint on some bags rubs off and your hook won't glide easily after awhile. Washing the hook will make a huge difference in the ease with which you can crochet. (Paiz bags were the worst.)

Many patterns call for using a half-double crochet stitch. I found it difficult and tedious to pull three loops through so I used a single crochet stitch. That may be because I generally crochet tight stitches. Half-double crochet stitches seemed an extra effort and extra use of material without much difference in the look or size of the project. Experiment with a small swatch of both stitches to see which is easier for you.

If you have to pull out some stitches, do it slowly, helping each stitch come loose with both hands. If you pull too hard, you may weaken or even tear the plastic strips. Once it is crocheted, though, it is very tough.

Tips for the really anal like me:

To save storage space and organize your stash, lay 10 similar colored bags together and smooth them out into a neat stack. Fold the stack lengthwise in thirds, snip off the handles, if any, and smooth them again from the bottom up to squeeze out the air. Fold in half and stack the various colored bundles vertically in a shopping bag. You'll be amazed at how much less space they take up. It also saves a lot of time when looking for a certain color or "taking inventory" of how much of each color you have.

I roll the plarn into balls of 10 bags so that I have a better idea of how many bags that I will need for future reference on future projects.

Keep in mind that the color will be intensified when the plastic is scrunched up in the stitches. You can see the effect in this photo by comparing the color of the bag with the color of the crocheted project.

Most important of all to avoid the torture bag, before you cut up all of your bags, do a practice swatch of at least 4" square (5 cm.) with the size hook, width of plarn, and stitch pattern that you plan to use. You may find that you want to adjust to a different size hook or thinner plarn. It's tough to change the plarn if you've already cut it. I really regret not doing this on my "torture bag."

Tomorrow:
3 methods of cutting the plastic yarn

Related articles:

Sneak preview: The plastic bag bag

Need more plastic bags! Must have plastic bags!

Need more plastic bags! Must have plastic bags!

The whopper
Finally finished!

So what do you think? Surprised? Trust me, theses bags are even more surprising in person.

I had what seemed like an endless supply of plastic bags. After making these two crocheted market bags, I am dangerously low on bag inventory and eager to make more and more and more plastic bag bags.

The Honduran special
These orange bags will be familiar to those in Honduras

Remember that I started with these?

Would you ever believe that the yellow bag at top is made from 95 (NINETY-FIVE!) plastic bags? Of course, it is quite large, plenty roomy for a beach bag, and larger than I intended. I didn't plan so well on this one. Apparently plastic is lighter than air, because even with 95 bags, it is still extremely light weight.

For the orange bag, I used these familiar striped bags.

The orange and white bag only took 25 large heavyweight plastic bags (18" x 24") and could have been made from fewer bags. I learned a lot from making this bag, which I'll be telling you about.

I took notes all through the process so I could give you the patterns. Of course, if you are smart, you'll probably want to make some changes, since you'll learn from my mistakes.

I have a ton of photos of the process so I'll have to split this up into a few articles. I also have some tips, most of which I haven't read elsewhere or at least I didn't pay enough attention if I did. ;-/

This plastic bag obsession is changing my personality. I find that I'm now very stingy with my plastic bags, reusing trashcan liners instead of throwing them out with the trash so I don't have to "waste" my bags. I also find myself deciding on where to shop based not on prices, but on what color bags they provide. Even more shameful, I've actually stooped to asking the carryout boy at the grocery store to double bag. Remember that I used to complain about how many bags they used every time I went to the store? Heheh. ;-)


If you are in La Ceiba, SAVE YOUR BAGS FOR ME! Anyone have any Diunsa bags laying around?


P.S. If you were inspired to make a plastic shopping bag from my sneak preview article, send me a photo and I'll post it here. I'd love to see what you've done!