I have a .avi video file, If I wanted to make a .gif image of a certain clip in the video what would be the easiest way of making that happen?

Nothen?

Sorry for delay.
You can use movie maker, import a .avi file, then play it when you get to the clip you want stop and take picture (by pressing the last buttom on right with camera picture) Save the file as .jpg.

Open a photo software like photoshop, open the saved jpg and save it as .gif. That will work have used it before.

very interesting idea abalach,as in like to dabble in such things myself,this will come in handy