Somehow I stumbled across a picture of girl in here very own dwarf helm and beard.  The helm was crocheted and the beard was yarn.  It was AWESOME and sent my brain a-reeling!  Though crochet is currently oh of realm of crafting abilities, I settled on making a beard.  My BIL's birthday was coming up fast, so it was the perfect time to whip one up for him just for fun.  I bet he never expected to get a dwarf yarn beard from me, but that's what he got!  In my research phases, I found a totally amazing and wonderful tutorial on how to make a beard like this, and that can be found here:  http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Grow-Your-Own-Epic-Dwarf-Beard-In-One-Eveni/