Paracord belt and rifle sling

With my husband dabbling in prepping and buying 300 feet of paracord and me with an idea for crocheting paracord...

Because I am lazy and did not want to take the time to learn all the fancy pants knots used to tie paracord lanyards and bracelets, I decided to crochet it. Also with crocheting it comes undone with a simple pull and no untying knots. So armed with a crochet hook and a vague memory of a paracord belt I once saw somewhere on line I started my little project.

First I needed to figure out a belt buckle. My husband has lots of these fabric belts that come on his cargo shorts so I thought he could spare one. I cut off the buckle, attached to the paracord and began.

I chained one row, measured it on the hubs and then double chained on the way back and finished off the end weaving it thru a few times and melting the ends with a lighter.

This belt is around 80 feet of paracord and a little too long because I lazily measured it on the hubs. But it works and if he ever needs 80ft of paracord he will have it in his Apocalypse stock pile.

While I was making the belt the hubs got a bright idea he wanted a sling. At this point my fingers were sore as paracord is a bit difficult to crochet so I said no. After a few days of healing I decided I would make that sling he wanted. After getting proper measurements from the hubs (32.5in) I crocheted in the same manner as the belt. This sling took about an hour and it's approximately 47 feet of paracord. We attached it with D rings.

So now he's set for survival if ever in need of paracord!

Crochet- Santa Wine Bottle Cover

Previously I posted that I intended to crochet these adorable (in my head) wine bottle covers, well folks, I have done just that!  I think they are adorable!  Don't you? 

Even though these took me about 3 weeks to complete, they really are simple and quick to make.  I just take breaks for days in between crafting.

So here's what I used to make these:

Red Yarn
Crochet Hook (size of your choice)
Feather Boa
Black Ribbon
Spray Glue
Needle & Thread
Card Stock
Silver Sharpie
Scissors


I don't have a pattern, I just used the wine bottle to gauge the size.  I also worked from the top down as that seems to be easier for me than making the magic circle and getting the bottom to be the right size for the bottle. Just did a little decreasing for the bottom to close it up. If you have the smallest crochet skills you can do this too! But if you need a pattern for some reference then you might want to check this out from crochet spot.

Once I finished crocheting the cover itself, it was time for the pretties! I hand sewed the feather boa to the top and the bottom making sure the stitching was not visible from the inside of the cover.  The next step was the black ribbon for the belt.  I just used spray glue to attach the ribbon.   For the belt buckle, I cut it out of card stock and used a silver sharpie to color it.   I also attached it with spray glue. So that's it and I think I love these. 

Here's How I gift wrapped them

DIY Corn heating pad with a drawstring bag.

One more homemade Christmas Present off the list, corn heating pad with a drawstring bag. Inspired by The Green Wife tutorial. I don't use patterns so I just winged it. It's homemade and the thought that counts right? So quick and easy to make and I already had all the materials on hand.

Materials Needed:
18x21 fat quarter
Approx 4 cups of corn (or you can use rice)
Ribbon for the drawstring
safety pin
sewing machine and scissors

First I cut out for my corn pad cutting and 18x10 rectangle. Right sides together hemmed all the edges leaving an opening for the corn on a short end. Turned right side poking out the corners. Eyeballed chalk lines to make 4 pockets for the corn. (I recommended doing some measurements!) Filled with corn to about an inch below my first chalk line. Pinned the corn back leaving just enough room to sew my line. Continued on in this manner until I reached the end.

Then on to my drawstring bag. Using the remainder of my fat quarter, I folded over about a half inch on the long side and sewed it down for my drawstring top. Then folded the whole thing in half right sides together and sewed up the other 3 sides. Turned it right side. Hooked the safety pin to the end of my ribbon and threaded it through the drawstring hem, tied the ends together and whew! I was done. Only took me about an hour. Now I just need to make a gift tag with directions!

Microwave for approximately 1 minute.  Be careful not to over heat and burn yourself!