February 14, 2019 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 16 (16 of 40 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
February 14, 2019 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
Page A-16 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb 14, 2019
:!4, 2819 rvi :t he B &ir, Ailyn; G r vie Mason E : tor
L
Jenny Wallace displays a ball of plastics strips that will soon be crocheted into durable sleeping mats as a creative way to recycle. Herald photo by Dana
Kampa
Meson County women crochets mats to help homeless
By Dana Kampa
dana@masoncounty com
Some people carry a book
or crossword puzzle to occul y
them in their free time, but
Mason County resident Jenny
Wallace carries a tote filled
not with balls of yarn, but
plastic bags. What began as
a small, three-person project
turned into an ongoing effort
to aid in two big issues: home-
lessness and pollution.
"We just wanted a way to
give to the community, but we
didn't have a lot of time to do
food drives and building hous-
es," Jenny said.
She began crocheting sleep-
ing mats with plastic bags,
with the help of her husband,
Roger, and her son, Justin.
Besides being eco-friendly,
the plastic mats have the ad-
vantages of being lightweight,
compact, easy to clean and wa-
terproof compared to fabric.
Each mat also comes with a
strap (also made of crocheted
plastic) to wrap around the
rolled-up mat.
Though she doesn't know
exactly how many she's made
since she first took on the proj-
ect five years ago, she esti-
mates it's more than 100, each
taking about 80 hours to plan,
fold. cut and tie each one. She
said about 1,000 bags will go
into one mat, depending on
the size.
"This way I get the satisfac-
tion of crocheting, and we get
to give it away when we'r~ all
done," Jenny said.
Jenny said it was surpris-
ingly easy to find how-to vid-
eos online. It took a bit ofprac-
tice to get the hang of working
with the unconventional ma-
terial, her work gained trac-
tion, and she began donating
the mats to service organiza-
tions, including North Mason
see BAGS, page A-18
i NORTH MASON I
L, H AMBERt
JOIN US!
And your first Chamber
luncheon is free/
2,5.29
North Mason Chamber 2019 Red & White Gala
and "Gotta Have It" Auction
Saturday, February 23
5 pm - 9 pm
565for members, $75 non-members
Tickets are selling out fast -
Call to reserve yours today!