Wow. With that many bags packed together that tote bag should be extremely rigid by the time you get done with it. Excellent progress!
Most people only bring one or two bags to the shops with them. Looks like you’re bringing double digits of bags lol
They’ve been accumulating for 5+ years now…
Seriously admire the effort lol. Awesome project!
Smart.
Question, would this make it take longer to decompose? Because it’s all tied together instead of seperate?
Awesome bag either way
A thousand-and-one years vs a thousand I would think.
How many bags do you think it will take the complete?
Idk but I’m part of a makerspace and I bet at least a few of them also have some bags they feel too bad to throw away.
You don’t use it for trash?
I’ve been netting more than I use for a while so a looot have built up.
The micro plastics will probably last a couple hundred years but the plastic shopping bag as a recognizable object will typically disintegrate within 5-10 years. It may last a bit longer being crocheted like that, assuming a good portion is protected from UV light.
Yeah the real eco friendly aspect is it lasting longer than and upcycling the existing already used plastic bags and actually used to prevent more from accumulating; I’m trying to make something that can be taken to the grocery store instead of getting more bags.
Yummy microplastics!
Your new bag of bags will be made from your bag of bags. You’ve reached peak Midwestern.
Well they’re still macroplastics for now. I’m delaying their conversion into microplastics by about 5-10 years in a way that will prevent the need for more of them.
I was kind of joking, but plastic bags create microplastics and nanoplastics through photo-degradation and manipulation. Unfortunately, stretching, tearing, cutting, and twisting plastic bags create both micro- and nano-plastics. So you’re definitely creating them now, not in 5-10 years.
Avoiding microplastics is basically impossible though, so I wouldn’t stress it. You should look up how much magic eraser sponges create. It was actually so crazy I decided not to use them again, even if avoiding microplastics is not realistic.
This will prevent you from using plastic bags ever again?? That’s the real value. Nice job!
Probably not ever, but hopefully enough that their accumulation doesn’t outpace their use picking up dogshit.
Less is great!
I miss that ancient artifact that is plastic bags
Always though about learning to crochet and this gets my attention. Where do I begin?
Get a skein of medium-weight yarn in a light color (it’s easier to see what you’re doing) and whatever the recommend hook size it says on the label. Then watch some tutorials for basic stitches. I’d start making a little pot holder kinda thing with double or half-double crochet stitch. It’s small enough that you can get used to turning rows, and it’ll work up pretty fast with the medium weight yarn to give you some nice dopamine when you finish.
I would definitely recommended learning with just regular yarn, nothing fancy, until you get used to it. Yarn with lots of variability in the weight (as i expect plastic bags would have) is going to be difficult if you’re not comfortable with the basics.
Learn how to make yarn from grocery bags first. There’s tutorials on YouTube to get you started.
There’s a couple different ways to make the plarn but this is super simple, all you need is scissors, and you can do it as you go. That said, I would follow a single-crochet tutorial online with some kind of string even like a shoelace or something first because I found the plarn somewhat difficult to work with at first and it would’ve been much harder if I didn’t already have that basic stitch down.
I mentioned this on another sub but they were super displeased that I interrupted their extremely important political discourse about politicians and political parties memeing at each other. I suspect they may have also been upset that I was referencing activities they have difficulty engaging in; upcycling being only one example.
You could always go find whatever bottle my mother crawled into and dump her out. She probably won’t teach you how to crochet since she’s old AF but it’d be funny.
Is your mother a hermit crab?
A relative of mine is a big fan of The Woobles, they got me a panda kit that I really have to start on. But the how-to videos go over every step in detail and are pretty easy to understand.
The Woobles are a little pricey, but having that kind of cute project and video help can be a good motivator. I think starting with amigurumi can still be a little ambitious though. I’d suggest starting with a blanket of single crochets to get comfortable with the hook - all you need is the right size hook and yarn. No need to spend more than $6 at Walmart or Dollar Tree.
I’d suggest starting with a blanket of single crochets to get comfortable with the hook
Do you have a guide to recommend for this? How big of a blanket? What is a “single crochet”?
In this video, she’s using a nice chunky yarn, so it’s easier to see.
The good thing with blankets is that the size is whatever you want it to be. Just stop making your chain when you get one dimension right, and then finish with whatever row makes you happy. A single skein of the cheap SuperSaver/RedHeart can make ~8 sq. feet of area - a nice 2’ x 4’ baby blanket is a good size for a beginner. Blankets are also very forgiving of fuck-ups - which in crochet is usually forgetting a count (as a stoner, this is usually why I knit)
Single crochet is a stitch type. Crochet is about making chains, and then doing different stitches back into the chain. Single crochet is the most basic stitch. (There’s also double/triple/half-double, but these mean different things depending on where you are from).
I’ll give it a shot, thank you!
Wow, that’s great! Thanks for sharing
I read this in a Wisconsin accent. Specifically Charlie Berens’ voice.
You betcha
Okay, I cannot be the only person who saw a cat in the bag before realizing it was more bags?
It is a classic cat thing though…
It’s not a cat??
i wouldnt have noticed it isnt a cat without your comment.
Textbook sign of overfitting in deep learning.
How do I fix my learning model
sleep helps to defrag memory,
I’ve also heard on the net that resources such as the Arch wiki can help correct some instances of data gaps/corruption
If only I didn’t have a dozen tote bags already. At any rate, the plastic bags around here all get used for disposal of pet waste. Fun project though. My kid is into crocheting and made a sort of rug out of them once.
We haven’t been using them for pet waste at the rate they’ve been accumulating for quite some time now, so they had really built up. I’m hoping that making him a grocery shopping tote will also help them accumulate less quickly.
Love seeing this kinda thing on lemmy nice change from posting links
