By Carter Hyde, Arts & Entertainment Editor
During quarantine, students find that they have plenty of free time to enjoy past hobbies as well as try to discover new ones. This week we are featuring Junior, Spencer Robbins, who has occupied this surplus of free time with the eco-friendly activity of making plarn (or plastic yarn).
Robbins has been reusing plastic grocery bags to crochet into fashionable bags and purses. According to Robbins’ recollection, she first learned about plarn in her 8th-grade year as a part of Harpeth Hall’s sustainability initiatives and has always had a desire to bring it back.
“One-night several weeks ago I just started making some plarn and ended up cutting, folding, and tying until 3 am,” Robbins’ recounts.
Realizing that the plethora of plastic bags her family has collected over the years was either going to end up in a dump or a foreign plastic recycling center, she decided to take action.
Crocheting the plarn was more difficult than Robbins anticipated, especially after having watched 70-year-old’s skillful and complex tutorial.
Quarantine gave Robbins the time to truly master the craft of plarn. Not only has she been immersing herself in all things plarn, but Robbins has made many notable new hobbies.
Remaining on the eco-friendly track, Robbins has started growing a garden in her backyard.
“I planted vegetable seeds recently and they are nearing four inches in height” Robbins said.
Not only has she taken on gardening but also composting. Quarantine truly has given her the time to do lots of things like soccer, go on runs, bike, organize, read and journal! This past weekend, Robbins took a bike ride down an empty Broadway street and got to experience the rare silence of downtown.
By utilizing her free time with new hobbies, Robbins is making herself quite busy taking on new tasks daily! With so much free time it is easy to fall into the habit of getting sucked into all forms of technology. Robbins shows that it is easy to occupy your time with new and old hobbies to stay busy during this time of self-quarantine.
