There are times when having a third hand would be useful. Washing fruit while holding a hose is one example.

This is the solution I came up with for my particular situation, which included a vertical water pipe and the water faucet.

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is a thermoplastic. It softens with heat and rigidifies again when it cools. I cut this rectangular piece of PVC from the wall of a larger piece of pipe. After heating and flattening it, I heated the ends and bent them as needed to hold the hose and to clip onto the vertical water pipe.

You can slide the unit up and down the pipe to adjust the height of the hose.

Step 1: MARK LINES FOR CUTTING

You can cut the piece you need out of just about any large-diameter piece of pipe. On construction sites, you can often times get free pieces of scrap material.

I hold the pipe in a door frame and use the frame edge as a guide for drawing the pencil lines for the cuts. This particular strip of pipe is going to be 2 inches wide and about 14 inches long.

Step 2: CUT THE MATERIAL

A back saw from a miter box is what I usually use to cut PVC. Hold the pipe down with one foot while you saw.

Step 3: FLATTEN THE MATERIAL

To flatten the plastic I soften it over a gas stove, put it on the floor with some plywood on top, and stand on it until it cools.

This is an optional step. It is not absolutely necessary to flatten the material for this project. If the pipe section still has the curvature of the pipe running lengthwise, the curvature will give it more rigidity.

Step 4: BEND THE ENDS

You need to bend one end of the material so that it will clip onto the vertical water pipe. You need to bend the other end so that the hose can slide into it.

You can heat the material with a propane torch, or a gas stove.

I use a piece of old hose with no brass fitting on the end. I slide it into the holder end-first. If your hose is new and has the threaded brass end, you will have to clip the hose in from the side, the same way the vertical water pipe has to clip in from the side. PVC is flexible and the ends will spring open for side entry. If it doesn't spring open easily enough, try opening the bend curvature a little with heat, cutting the end of the strip narrower, or using thinner material in order to weaken its strength.

I used some artist's canvas stretching pliers for this step. Other pliers will work. You could probably form it without pliers if you use a rag to insulate your hand from the hot plastic until it cools. Pour some water on the plastic if you want it to cool faster.

Step 5: THE FINISHED HOSE HOLDER

The holder can slide up and down the vertical water pipe for height adjustment. It can also swing out to the side in an arc. The end result is that you can hold the hose in just about any position that you need.