Can I just take a moment to share these awesome knitted beanies by JoansGarden at @coopartisans? These listings are for patterns, but the creator says they'll be happy to make a custom finished version of any of them upon request.
She also has patterns for stranded beanies where the design is worked into main layer, like the Bigfoot Beanie, and for stand-alone knitted animals, like the Roly-Poly Pill Bug, or the Secretive Seahorse.