Soft and Green

I made this hat using Blue Sky Alpaca brand yarn. As a rule, I don't use patterns (I make them up and then don't write them down) but the jist of making this hat is as follows:
Get some chunky yarn and round needles. Cast on around 40 stitches depending on the size of your head and how loose you want it. Slip the first stitch, yo, and k2tog. Go on sl, yo, and k2tog. I think this is basic mesh stitch. Make a hat shape by decreasing ( I just do it by eye). Be warned, this stitch decreases fast! When the hat part is finished, pick up about ten stitches along the bottom
rim and knit your ear flaps. I did a few rows of knit stitch and then switched to mesh. I also decreased on the sides. To decide where to put the second ear flap I just put the hat on and marked where to pick up the stitches. For the strings, just braid some yarn or crochet a chain. This hat knits up fast and is incredibly easy. I estimate that I spent less than 3 hours on the whole project.

If you don't knit, just google it. I happen to like the Vogue Knitting website but About.com and many other sites have videos as well as instructions.
Finally, about alpacas. I try to use alpaca whenever possible. It's warmer and lighter than wool, and from my research, it's more sustainable. Alpacas are lighter and eat less than sheep. The herd poops in one communal spot, so cleaning up is easier. Best of all, they don't have hooves, but paws and toenails, like camels. This and their light weight means they don't compact the soil, so they don't spoil the land for agriculture. However, this article suggests that there is an alpaca market bubble that might be dangerous for farmers in the US. However, it seems that the nature of this problem does not mean consumers should stop buying alpaca, but that farmers will have to anticipate the price drop. So keep supporting alpaca farming-- if not currently economically sustainable, it's still environmentally sustainable. With the current boom in sustainable products, the latter is likely to bolster the former.