Plarn Sink Mat: Eco-Chic? or, Egad, What Did Grandma Make Now?

Last week I did a dumb thing. Had I thought about the thing before I did it, I'd have realized, "This is a dumb thing." But I didn't think. (Dumb things are rarely thought about before they're done.)

My green, plastic-pebble sink mat was kind of yucky. There was an open space in the dishwasher rack. So I tossed it in. And I didn't turn off the hot-air dry. My green, plastic-pebble sink mat came out looking like a post-modern interpretation of Hulk's fisted hand.

Sadness.

I'd been wanting to try out plarn (plastic yarn made from old shopping bags) for a while, so I decided to make myself a Plarn Sink Mat!

My husband saw me working on it and pulled up Amazon. He did a search for "sink mats."

"I feel like you don't appreciate my Plarn Sink Mat," I said. "Am I reading that correctly?"

He hummed a few bars of Dueling Banjos.

"Are you suggesting that my Plarn Sink Mat is... less than sophisticated?"

He pointed to a metal trivet-style listing. "How about this one?"

I ignored the toxicity coming from the other side of the couch and I finished my project. Here's how I did it:

Materials:

2 Large-ish (10 gallon?) Plastic Bags

Scissors

Size J Crochet Hook

Cut off the seams at the bottom of your bags and throw those away. Then cut 1" strips across the bags, from fold to fold, so you'll have a pile of plastic circles when you're done.

Then open up and connect all the circles to each other, end to end, as though you're connecting rubber bands with slip knots.

Roll the connected plastic circles up into a ball of yarn, and you're ready to crochet!

Pattern: (Initial ch-2 always counts as a dc.)

Chain 36.

Row 1) dc in 3rd ch from hook. [Counts as 2 dcs.] (Ch 1, sk 1, dc) across to last st, dc in last st. Ch 2, turn.

Row 2) dc in next st, (ch 1, sk 1, dc) across to last st, dc in last st. Ch 2, turn.

Repeat Row 2 until you run out of plarn, or the mat is the size you like. Mine turned out 10"x14".

My husband believes that my mat will get icky, full of food bits and bacteria, and will smell soon. I argue that it's essentially fabric, so I can rinse it out with soap and water, and even run it through the washing machine. (BUT NOT THE DRYER.) I believe this will be a great addition to our sink for years to come.

Hang on, the Amazon truck is outside. Wonder what Hubs ordered now?....

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UPDATE 3/11/2020

Okay, I'm loving my Plarn Sink Mat.

Occasionally I squeeze a little dish soap into it and squish it all through then rinse it out. I like to hang it up to dry over the faucet at night, but even if I leave it in the sink it stays pretty decent. No issues with smell or mold yet. I think we have a winner.