Just Be Happy Review & Giveaway

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The Just Be Happy Giveaway is over! Thank you to all who entered and thank you to Just Be Happy Patterns for sponsoring the giveaway! Congratulations to Stephanie B. W., winner of the book, and Gem C., Yuka O., and Janet M., winners of the pattern picks! You’ll all be getting emails shortly! Click here to purchase your own copy of Just Be Happy: Crochet Hats for Babies and Toddlers, and click here to visit the Just Be Happy Craftsy store to purchase her great indie patterns!

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Alessandra Hayden is the designer and blogger at Just Be Happy – and she specializes in super cute patterns for kids! Recently she sent me a copy of her book, Just Be Happy: Crochet Hats for Babies and Toddlers – and now I get to share the fun with all of you!

First a little hello from Alessandra:

Hi! My name is Alessandra Hayden. I am 34 years old, a momma of a boy and a girl, a coffee lover, a crochet addict, a wife to a loving man, a Brazilian native that lives and loves America. I hope you enjoy the patterns I create because I love what I do!

 

Now my Review!

Just Be Happy: Crochet Hats for Babies and Toddlers is a sweet little pattern book with a unique set-up. All the hat designs are riffs on a basic beanie pattern. At the beginning of the book, you’ll find the notes and beanie patterns for sizes 0-3 mths, 3-6 mths, 6-12 mths, and 12-36 mths. Then, each pattern tells you how to customize that hat – you could go with the penguin on the cover, or with a bee, lion, ladybug, bluebird, and more!

What I really like about Just Be Happy: Crochet Hats for Babies and Toddlers is the layout. This book assumes you have a good grasp of crochet already, and doesn’t spend space walking you through the basics. For that reason I wouldn’t recommend it for a new crocheter – you’ll want to have some knowledge of hat construction before you pick up this book. But by having it layed out as hats and then add-ons, it really opens up the book’s usefulness – mix and match the pieces to create your own custom creations!

For instance, I used the Lizard pattern in the book to create a dino hat for my 8 year old! Though the sizes in the book only go to 36 mths, it’s not hard to upsize a basic beanie – indeed, you could start with any favorite beanie pattern you like! So I made the hat a little bigger, added a couple of extra sts to the earflaps, and voila! By leaving off the tongue my boy-o got a fun dino hat to keep him warm all winter! We both love it!

So are you ready to try one of Just Be Happy’s patterns for yourself? Because it’s even better than you might have guessed! Alessandra is giving one lucky winner a signed copy of her book, AND she’s giving 3 more winners their 10 favorite picks of all her other patterns (some of which are pictured above), which you can browse on Ravelry! So awesome!

This Just Be Happy giveaway is open to international entries. The entry period for this giveaway ends November 19th, 2013 at 12AM Eastern. The book prize will be mailed by the sponsor, Just Be Happy, and the patterns will be available as electronic downloads.

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Good luck everybody! Get Moogly on your favorite social media sites:  Facebook, Twitter, G+, Pinterest and Tumblr, and sign up for the Newsletter so you don’t miss a thing! TamaraKelly@mooglyblog.com Thank you to Just Be Happy for sponsoring this giveaway!