Plarn

Today, I made plarn all day. Thanks to those that donated their grocery bags. I must of cut and slip knot close to 100 brown plastic bags. This should last me for a while, hopefully. I plan on making clasp coin purses with the plarn, but for today, just a small pouch to put my rings in while I bowl. The nice thing about the brown bags is any button will go with them.

I collect buttons and have a really hard time crafting with them because I don't want to part with them. Especially the vintage ones. I usually make button stems with them and put them in a vintage bottle to display, but today, one of the buttons will travel with me, attached to a small pouch.

The purpose of making the plarn was to clear my entry way and thoroughly clean the front part of the house. I had four bags of either grocery bags or plastic bottles. I have managed to eliminate one and still haven't started cleaning. I did not realize it would take all day to make plarn, but I have contributed to keeping the bags out of the landfill, so it was well worth it.

Guess what I will be doing this evening instead of watching TV?

Temari

I make yarn, or as they call it plarn, from my plastic bags. It is a great way to recycle and reuse. The only part of the bag that is not used when making plarn is the bottom of the bag and the handles. I have placed those pieces in an old sock, knowing that I need to come up with some way to use that part of the bag. In the process of placing those in the sock, I realized that I was creating a new form of stuffing.

We all have them and don't tell me you don't. Socks that get get old, socks your dogs chew up, socks that you wash and for some reason one mysteriously disappears.

They are perfect for making Temari balls. Use your plastic bags as stuffing, and if you don't crochet, well here is your opportunity to use yarn in a different way. Wrap, wrap and wrap that stuffed sock with yarn.

By stuffing the excess yarn in an old sock, I came up with the idea to make Temari Balls. I cut the socks down to a more manageable size and stuff with the excess plastic and then wrap the sock with yarn to form a tennis ball size Temari.

I have made many of these yarn balls as I call them. When creating, I don't always follow tradition or text book instructions. I come up with ideas and thoughts that give me the opportunity to express who I am or options that are different and new. Bring something new to the table. Is that not what it is all about?

My thing is, I don't want to do the traditional stitching that is used in the Temari ball. I want to embroidery on the yarn ball. I like to incorporate the old with the new. I never discount vintage, it has held the test of time and it is the base. So with that in mind, I am going to spend this evening, designing a way to place some vintage stitching techniques and colors onto the Temari ball.