Monday, August 26, 2013

Mats4Haiti

Well, I've come up with a new way to determine whether or not someone is the crafter type.  All you do is show them this website.  If they go "Hunh" and shrug their shoulders in a non-committal way?  Not crafty.  If, however, they react as my Rachel did - i.e., "Oh, wow, that's the neatest thing ever!" and immediately start cutting plastic grocery bags into strips to use as plastic yarn (plarn)?  Crafty.

Mine doesn't look this good
 So, yes, today was spent crocheting plastic strips into bug-proof, waterproof sleeping mats for children in Haiti.  Crafty and virtuous!  We won't talk about the first 3 attempts that I had to tear out - sure would help if somewhere among these online instructions someone had mentioned that I needed an N size hook.  But no matter...the girls are inspired and I feel useful.  Join us!



[Plastic mat image: Island Dreams]

10 comments:

  1. I passed this on to a friend who will say, "That's the neatest thing ever" and moreover, "I could make that!" I am nonplussed by craft projects, but I admire those who can do them.

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  2. *shudders* I tried crocheting plastic bag strips once. It was not a success. I trashed the evidence and plan to deny it ever happened.

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    1. Gah, don't scare me, RobinH! The girls hearts are set on this working out. So far, so good - but we've got 56 inches to go.

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  3. It's a great idea! I'm not sure what they mean by "milk bags." I've lived in Canada, so I know the milk sometimes comes in bags, but surely those would smell like sour milk? You just used regular plastic grocery bags? Alas, we have a shortage of plastic bags in our house because I use the reusable ones, and the few that do get into the house are immediately used as dog poop bags or small trash can liners. If I manage to collect enough, I would totally do this.

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    1. You can grab them out of the recycle bins in the front of the grocery store. Our church has people donating the bags.

      How does milk come in bags?

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    2. It was a big thing in Canada in the eighties, to save plastic. You would buy a reusable plastic pitcher that was designed specifically for the milk bags. The milk would be in these sealed, floppy plastic bags. I don't remember that the plastic was all that sturdy. You'd insert the bag into the pitcher pull one corner of the bag through a hole in the pitcher and then cut through the bag. Here's a link to an image (if it works). Otherwise you can google "Canada bag of milk."
      http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv9eirb7sv1qcnvm5o1_400.jpg

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  4. That's cool--both the concept and that you and your daughter are doing it.

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  5. I'm impressed!
    Crocheting is above my skill level, but I could show this to my DIL (over Christmas break, because I really want her to graduate on time).
    How cool that Rachel loves it!

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  6. What a fabulous idea! I wish I could knit//crochet... I think Saige would love the idea of helping Haiti this way.

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  7. Since I always forget to bring in my reusable bags (I know I'm a horrible horrible person) and then have huge guilt to throw away the bags I have a HUGE supply of bags I can send you ;)

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