Paracord Lantern Pouch/Can Koozie

I made this paracord pouch using cow hitching, to fit my River Rock 3AA LED lantern. The pouch also works well as a can koozie.

I used up what I had left of my green paracord, and can only guess that the amount used was somewhere between 30 to 40 feet. A 2 foot length for the cord lock/cinch section and the rest is a single strand tied onto the cinch and cow hitched around to the bottom.

I was almost out of cord, so I used half hitching for the bottom section, which also lets the can koozie sit flat.

I've added a photo collage for starting 'cow hitching'. The last couple of photos are a couple of different starting methods. One is with your cord tied to itself, for a more permanent covering of something like a bottle, and the other is using a separate piece of cord as a drawstring/cinch strap with a cord lock, and then tie onto that piece of cord and start hitching. When you get to working around the bottom of a project, you can switch to half hitching to finish, and sew, melt, or super glue the end strand in place. Just click on the image for a larger version.

*Added to this blog post is another example made with 40 feet of paracord, tied onto the drawstring/cinch cord, that will make a pouch large enough to stretch over a 0.5 liter water bottle, still fits the lantern, and a soda/beer can too .

Cow hitched paracord water bottle sleeve...

I used about 45 feet of orange paracord, from Going Gear, to make this cow hitched paracord sleeve, to cover/carry/protect a 750ml(26oz) aluminum water bottle.

A couple of feet of paracord were used for the cinch cord with a lanyard knot and a cord lock, and about 43 feet of cord for the hitching to cover the bottle. A needle and some thread were used to further secure the cord at the start and finish of the knot work. More or less paracord may be used, depending on how tight/loose/close together the hitches are done. The cow hitching used a bit more cord than the half hitching did with another water bottle sleeve I tied.

A previous blog post has a photo collage, that I made, showing how to start the cow hitching. The last couple of photos in the collage show two different starting methods, one with the cord tied to itself to start for a permanent covering, and the other with a separate cinch cord and cord lock for a removable sleeve.

Half Hitched Paracord Drawstring Pouch

This one is tied in the same manner as the glow-in-the-dark pouch of the previous post. I used a one foot long piece of 550 paracord for the drawstring/cinch cord with cord lock, and 20 feet of paracord for the pouch.

I tied it around a 1.5" diameter by 5" long piece of foam tubing as a mandrel, but you could use a section of PVC pipe, or any other similar cylindrical object to tie around.

This was made for a multitool, like the Victorinox SwissTool seen in the photo, but since these half hitched pouches can expand/elongate/stretch, it also works well to store a cell phone, Altoids/survival tin, deck of cards, or a pistol magazine, etc...

I haven't added any belt loops to it, but I'm sure something like that could easily be rigged with some more paracord, a belt clip, or maybe a carabiner or two could also work to secure the pouch to a belt/bag/pack etc...

I'd guess at doubling the amount of cord for doing a paracord half hitched can koozie, to be on the safe side It can be tied directly around a soda/beer can. And since you're only feeding the cord around once for each half hitch, compared with twice for the cow hitching method, it takes a little less time.

And another photo of the pouch mounted onto a backpack shoulder strap with a few Grimlock Locking D Rings.

Stuart Grainger's 'Creative Ropecraft' has some good diagrams and variations of half hitching/needle hitching.