(I didn't make any of the hats shown, hopefully I can get some pics up of some of the ones I've made!)
This year, for Winter Solstice, I figured out from a Youtube video how to crochet winter beanies. 
I started collecting yarn from thrift stores and I've made quite a few hats and scarves. It's funny, I used the same pattern for all the hats but they all turned out differently. 
A few of them decided to be slouchy chunky berets, some are a little longer and have pompoms, and some are simple beanies. They have their own distinct personalities:) Actually, it's probably just because I keep losing my place and adding or forgetting rows...
I had to be creative in my color mixes for the stripes because I kept running out of each color. That's the only problem with buying all your yarn from thrift stores, they may be only $0.25 but there's never quite enough. That's okay though, it adds a little more homemade-ness. I've heard that Michael's often has sales on yarn and I think I'll check it out. I other news: my sister and brother-in-law are visiting from NorCal and I love them! 
I made them hats, too:) With various shades of blue and gray and some black and white. Really, whatever cool colors I had left over. And by "cool colors" I mean blue, green, violet, teal...My mom is learning guitar! She's always wanted to and I'm so very proud. I'm listening to her play Fleetwood Mac songs now:)
Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Hanuka! Happy Yule! Happy Winter Solstice! Happy secular winter gift-giving time! really, just have a nice winter. There's no snow here. In Idaho. The land of the never-ending, freeze-your-ass-off winters. I'm getting a bit concernicus. I hope there's snow for Christmas/Yule/Winter solstice... Why am I using all these fragments?
Love,
Belle
P.S.: look at this. It always helps me when I'm depressed. Which, thanks to my bi=polar-ness, is about exactly pretty much half the time. You should also check out ALL of the "best ofs". Especially "the Alot" and "dogs don't understand basic concepts, like moving".
