Quick/Easy way to make a gif from youtube?
 

just got curious on gifs, including for my profile here... any suggestions (without buying sofware)?

Running Windows? Have you tried the "Print Screen" key?
It puts the screen image in the clipboard.
Open a "paint" program and paste the clipboard image.
Edit it and save as a gif.

I'm not sure this will capture a You-Tube image.
I'm too tired to try it now. Off to sleep.

Edit: Works

If you meant animated gifs there is gifsoup.com or gickr.com