Tool Holsters

Dad suggested that I make holsters for the tools I picked up at Cabin Fever- two vice grips, a micrometer, a finger sized adjustable wrench- out of Kevlar thread because kevlar is cool. Ebay, kevlar thread, lifetime supply, $15-30. It takes forever to make anything out of thread as we discussed over dinner that evening, and it was decided that I would have to wait until June to get Kevlar thread. June? June is Far Away. I dig out my crochet needles and some nice grey wool/acrylic yarn and get to work.

A week later I have these:

From left to right: micrometer, leatherman, eensy vice grip. The leatherman and eensy vice grip have grommets hammered into the top with cute little clip earing holders that fit through and hook onto my belt. The metal in the clips is soft, so I expect fail from them. The micrometer has grommets but no clips because I have no more clips and haven’t found anything else that doesn’t require me to be overly clever. The eensy vice grip has a little loop+bead closure to keep the holster shut. I made the bead out of fake turquoise stone.

This is the wrench. Instead of a beltpouch for it, I macraméd(?) a lanyard for it. It’s hard to see in the picture, but the wrench unclips from the lanyard with a clip I stole off my usb key.

This is the holster for the big vie grip. It’s designed to fit around my leg. I originally intended for it to go around my thigh, but discovered that it slid down. FAIL. so I changed it to fit around my calf, which is a much more satisfactory solution anyway- it doesn’t interfere with my cargo pockets that way.

yaaaaygeeking

All the holsters were made pattern free- I just made it up as I went along, occasionally holding the work up the the tool to make sure I didn’t totally mess it up.

Cabin Fever 2011

This starts a post flurry! some of which have projects in them!

Friday before last I departed for York, PA moments after arriving home from school in order to attend the yearly Cabin Fever Expo. We took a rental car this year so mom could go places while my father and I were out and so that when they car crapped out, we could call the nice man and be told to come back tomorrow to a place would couldn’t get to. I did not drive because the fee for having an 18 year old driving nearly tripled the price of the car- per day! Yipes! The five hour drive went with no event whatsoever. We stayed at the Rodeway in York and it felt sleazy but checked clean of bedbugs.

Saturday we got lost finding breakfast and found the fairgrounds instead. Since it was still bitingly cold and the doors weren’t yet open, we found Alexander’s Restaurant and ate there. They serve delicious food in decent portions promptly. Finding the fairgrounds again was simple enough- drive towards the smokestack, turn left and go aways…

The CNC ghetto got much smaller this year, with two commercial tables and two demonstrations tables paid for by the commercial guys. We got set up in a hurry and finished just before they started letting people in. The booth had no elbow room (and we were across from the hand cranked calliope bargle) so even though I was supposed to stand around and look pretty, I went and poked my nose into everything else for the rest of the day. What goes on there is hard to describe- it’s all so shiny, it all goes in circles, it’s all perfectly made. Over here there’ll be wooden (but functional models) and over there will be immaculately cast and machined models- perfect down to the rivets and bolts on the piping. It’s awe inspiring and inferior-making if I stop to think about me, making one of those. I picked up a micrometer, two vice grips (teeny and small), a small adjustable wrench, and an internal square key. I also picked up some delicious white chocolate peanut butter cups. I did not get the calipers or steel mesh purse (1900′s or so) that I saw because I wasn’t carrying any money and they disappeared before I got back. :/

Spent the afternoon holed up at Mr. Jenkins and Tin Falcon’s table talking airships and propaganda and the universe because of the previously mentioned complete lack of elbow room at my father’s table.

I suppose now’s as good a time as any… I will get an airship when I get older. This is one of those things that I will not stand for not happening… (I will not get a castle. castles are passe.)

Saturday evening we visited my (great)Aunt June. She plied us with delicious things and we traded stories and fixed her little music box. If I can grow up to be half the lady she is now, I’ll be unstoppable.

Ate dinner and Sunday’s breakfast at Alexander’s Restaurant. By breakfast we could almost find the place without getting lost!

Spent sunday looking into things left over from yesterday, having steam-whistle-vs-taxi horn noisemaking contests, packing and driving home.

I’m always a little sad to leave Cabin Fever. It’s a happy place for me, a hopeful uncomplicated simple peaceful place.

I’ll update the pictures when I have them inked and suchlike.

[Edit: Dad and I spent breakfast discussing the duck that paddled around on the pond for a while. He suggests that I make an air powered duck with printed parts that exhausts out a stack in its back so that it looks like a steam duck. He also suggests that I figure out how to mimic the movement of a swimming ducks foot. We also found that the steam-duck eats coal-minnows to power itself.]