January is filled with weird holidays, from Run Up The Flag Pole and See if Anyone Salutes Day (January 2) to Play God Day (January 9) to Measure Your Feet Day (January 23), but of all the strange holidays this month, perhaps one of the most fun is National Hat Day on the 15th. While there are plenty of fun ways to celebrate this holiday, there’s perhaps no better way for our Neatorama readers to celebrate with a great geek hat like one of these.
Unsurprisingly, many of the best geek hats are custom made and, since many nerds also enjoy crafting, the majority of great geek hats you’ll find are knitted or crocheted.

As if any crochet Domo hat weren’t nerdy enough, Etsy seller littlepopos opted to make Domo in his excellent nerd incarnation, complete with tape on his glasses.

What better way to play your role as the Dovahkiin than to wear this delightful crochet steel helm based on the in-game icon by Etsy seller CreativeExcess. If you don’t want to fork over the money to get your own completed hat, you can always buy the pattern for $5, which is sort of a real-world version of forging your own helmet.

Pika-Pika-Pika-Hat! Why catch them all when you can get the cutest Pokemon hat from Etsy seller littlepopos?
The cats from Kagonekoshiro (Basket Cat Blog) are ready for a holiday party! Which will keep their hat on the longest? My money is on Shiro -not only because he’s the most patient and balanced cat ever, but also because I’ve watched the video. -via Buzzfeed

Looking for a good way to show your love of the Muppets while staying warm this winter? You could always try knitting your own Muppet hats like Annie of Wattlebird did. Unfortunately, she doesn’t have any patterns and isn’t planning on selling them, so if you want to make your own Statler or any of your other favorites, you’ll have to figure it out on your own.

Etsy seller ToScarboroughFair makes utterly adorable hats for kittens, but I think the truly amazing thing about her shop isn’t her extensive collection of fashions, but how great her model is. Visit her shop for more delightful images and inspired hats.
Link Via Laughing Squid

deviantART user Samuel Lee made this dandy leather hat and decorated it with a classic maritime motif. It’s not a treasure map. At least, Lee doesn’t say that it’s a treasure map. Maybe there’s a code worked into it somehow….
Link via Boing Boing
Miss Cellania noted the odd hats that Princess Beatrice of York and other ladies wore to the British royal wedding. What isn’t widely known is that Beatrice actually modified her hat to make it a bit less ostentatious. There’s a whole Tumblr blog devoted just to the odd headgear that she’s worn in public.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve just blogged about the hat that a woman wore at a wedding, so I have to go surrender my man card now.
Link via Super Punch
Since Law & Order was nowhere to be found at 5AM, I watched the guests arrive for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The women’s hats reminded me of the Kentucky Derby crowd, only more so! The one that is destined to become an internet meme was worn by Princess Beatrice, shown here on the right. Buzzfeed compiled a list of the most notable hats worn at the royal wedding. Link
When What The World Needs Now was published in 1984 I felt I had tapped into a streak of American cultural insanity – or, to be more honest, my own insanity – so successfully that no future designs in any field could out-crazy mine. Wrong! Instead, I see now that my work was just a timid first step in a worldwide mix ‘n match innovation binge that would make my odd designs look almost staid and boring. In 1984, these women’s shoes, for example, were my idea of nutty-crazy.
Yet, if you follow fashion design these days, some of the designs for dresses, coats, hats and shoes for women seem over-the-top insane. Today, no strange idea is allowed to remain unexplored.
I have tried my best to be ahead of the curve. Here are some truly meaningless and awkward shoe-hat combo designs. This clothing line is part of my As Above So Below collection. These, I hope, are crazier than current clothing designers would dare offer to the buying public.
In women’s wear, funky and colorful tennis shoes have become a fashion item and are sometimes worn with a formal dress or business suit.
When I look back at my files from 1982-83 I find odd hat designs that touched on the shoe-hat theme. They have never been published. They are shown on Neatorama for the first time.
Etsy user Tiny Tangerine, aka Kelly Burghardt, knits these adorable baby hats. My favorite is the cow hat. Craftzine has a great interview with her or you can just click on the link and look at her great gallery of work.
Monster Crochet always has the neatest things. And now, just in time for the holidays, Lady Linoleum has created the pie-ret in three different flavors: pumpkin, pecan, and cranberry-orange. Looks like a pie, feels like a sneaker beret.
Ever wish a squid could sit on your head all day? Well, here’s your chance. It’s even better than a real squid, since it won’t make you stink and doesn’t feel slimy. Instructables has all the details you need to create your own squid hat.

