Sleeping Mats Out Of Plastic Bags

Each mat takes about 50 hours to make.

Sleeping mats out of plastic bags. Maria mendez young and other american legion auxiliary members in california are part of an initiative to create and provide these sleeping mats to. Gather the plastic bags. Rather than throwing them out you can reuse them by crocheting them into multi purpose mats known as plarn plastic yarn. Repeat step 3 until mat measures 72 183 cm from edge.

Approx 140 plastic bags or 1260 yds of plarn size us 11 8mm scissors. By collecting plastic bags and crocheting them in to sleeping mats you can give a homeless veteran a soft place to lay his or her head and help keep plastic bags out of oceans and landfills. Gauge 12 sts x 24 rows 4 10 cm in garter stitch. The may 2016 auxiliary magazine featured a follow up to its cucumel s compassionate carpets article it published a few months.

A word of forewarning when putting out the call to action for collecting plastic bags be prepared for an avalanche of plastic bags. Opting to use green canvas bags for your grocery shopping is an effective option but many people still have excess plastic bags lying about the place. This is a great way to involve your local church group knitting or crochet group youth group or scout organization with collecting and sorting the bags. It takes about 500 bags to make a two and a half feet by six foot mat.

Each 6 foot by 2 foot mat is made from 600 to 700 recycled plastic grocery bags. Make plarn using the above episode of ask me monday as a guide. Sleeping mats for the homeless are croqueted out of plastic bags during a mat making workshop held at southern oaks baptist church in tyler on wednesday jan. Like bev s bag brigade the plarn club meets every day after school to create mats.

The mats are made of plarn or plastic yarn crafted out of bags that are sliced into pieces and looped into a long chain. The mats are insulating waterproof and the plastic material is unfriendly to insects klemmer said. It takes about 700 bags and four hours to make one mat for an adult person klemmer said. Cast on 72 stitches.

The mats are lightweight waterproof and help keep plastic bags out of oceans and landfills.