Puzzle Knitting

Down another rabbit hole I go! I’m not even sure what I was looking for when I came across Puzzle Pieces. Apparently Nicole has always loved puzzles, almost to the point of an obsession.  Trust me . . I am an expert when it comes to obsessions!  🙂

When I was there last, I brought a puzzle for Addie and it was amazing to watch. It was like a little magnet. She could not walk away from it. Every waking moment, she wanted to be “playing the puzzle game”. I had not known that Nicole loved puzzles but it’s pretty obvious that Addie inherited her mom’s puzzle addiction. She now has a Rubbermaid tote full of puzzles and almost every time I talk to her, she shows me the puzzle she’s working on. I have never been much of a puzzle enthusiast so it’s all kind strange to me . . sit and stare at weirdly shaped pieces and try to fit them together . . only to break it all apart and stick it back in a box when you’re done but I suppose there are folks who don’t understand knitting and quilting . . bless their hearts!

I found the Puzzle Pieces pattern and I really wanted to use Tosh Merino Light because I could buy this big variety – 30 skeins of 52 yards each. That would give me a lot of variety plus I have quite a few single skeins of Tosh Merino Light so I could supplement the “Unicorn Tails” sampler with what I already have. 

I was a bit concerned because Tosh Merino Light is a single ply fingering weight yarn and I didn’t want the pieces to be too small or I’d have to make a million of them, but I didn’t want them to be loose and floppy seeming. The pattern recommends 2.75 mm needles for fingering weight yarn so that’s what I used.

In my opinion, it’s too loose and if I went down a couple of needle sizes, the pieces would be too small and I’d be making puzzle pieces til I’m an old woman . . don’t say a word! 

I knew I should use Cascade 220 because it’s inexpensive, I have quite a bit of it here already, it’s machine washable and goes into the dryer and I want this to be a blanket that Addie uses and loves. The pattern suggests 4.50 mm needles but I didn’t want it to be loose and floppy and I didn’t want the pieces to be giant so I used a 3.25 mm needle and I think that’s a great needle size for the Cascade 220.

There are some short rows so you see some tiny holes but they’ll block out. I like the density of the fabric using the smaller needles and the pieces aren’t huge. In fact, the light worsted weight yarn on the smaller than recommended needles isn’t much larger than the fingering weight yarn with the suggested size needles.

I need to calculate how many pieces I need to make and get a box of some kind to keep them all in. I’m not going to sew them together as I go but will get more done and then start sewing them together.

It isn’t going to be a quick project but I think it will be fun. And, if I get tired of it before I’m done, I can sew the pieces together and make a baby doll blanket!