Creaky Steering Noise - Spooky

ok so did you figure out what was going on there cause i got this going on. The past couple weeks i'll start it to go to work and might get a little creak as i turn it but an hour later as i'm doing my run it gets pretty annoying. Everytime you turn the steering wheel around once it goes cccrreeeeaaakkkk.. so lets say you're backing up and gotta turn sharp, for each time the steering wheel does 1 rotation it goes creeeek.. so maybe 10 times just to backup and turn around. Then you get it everytime you turn a corner.

But then other times during the night it might calm down and i dont notice it as much. The other day i brought it in to replace that cracked windshield from last winter and i go to start it and wasnt doing the creaking noise i'm there did these guys do something. No it could make the noise more later.

So today i had that toyota service appointment and as i'm parking it i go dang, its barely doing that creaking noise. Maybe once as i turn it all the way left. They call me back in the afternoon saying naw our technician doesnt detect a problem. I go to pick it up at 5:30, its dark and a little cooler out and when i start it i'm just turning the wheel as its parked and creeeeaaaaaakk ccreeeaaaaakkk.. i'm there, dont shut it off.. i go get a guy at the counter and get him to check it out and he goes yeah i hear it. And he's listening by the left wheel and i went out there as he was turning it and heard a different kind of creaking sorta more mechanical type noise. So yeah.. its like a creaking coming from the left side of the dash beside the steering wheel. He's there bring it back tomorrow.. i'm there, are you gonna be around cause i dont wanna look like a fool again. He's there yeah we'll see if it does it then. On my way down there i was thinking i'm gonna bring this mini video camera i got and bring it with me during my run and get that creaking and show them what i was talking about.

So yeah looked around for others talking about the steering wheel doing that and it only started a few days ago. Was kinda cold for a couple weeks before that though but seeing this guy mention it around this time of year i'm wondering if the cold has something to do with it. And what do you guys think is going on. When i was looking around seen people mention replacing the whole steering column and i think i seen how it might still do the noise later. Gotta love these things that dont do the noise all the time, you bring it in they go i dont hear nothing, then you go fine, i'll just keep driving it till it does the noise all the time and hope i can turn the steering wheel then. So what do you guys think is going on here.. whenever i get some funny noises going on with the car i have this hunch of what the cost sounds like and this one's a 500 to 1000$ noise. It does sound like a creaky door or walking on a creaking wood floor. At first i thought it was a busted part that was rolling around in there. Whats going on in there?