Assembled puzzle ball

I spotted this fun ball on Ravelry (free pattern here).  Those of you who know me will already be aware that I like a good puzzle (I collect unusual Rubik’s cubes, and similar) so this project appealed to me.  Don’t worry though, it isn’t anything like as complex as that, it is aimed at babies!  This one was a gift for a friend’s 1-year old.

The 3 pieces fit together to make a ball

Originally I was going to make all the insides yellow and the tops grey but I was using up stash yarn and could see I wouldn’t have enough, so I made 4 of the inside pieces grey with yellow tops instead.  I think it works ok this way as the ball looks different from each side.  I used a size 3.5mm hook, dk yarn, and it came out about 4 inches in diameter.

This pattern is really easy, but I must admit I found it a little dull at first because there are a lot of “wedges” to make; I felt like I was at the beginning of the project for 80% of it!  However, it all came together really fast in the end and I was pretty pleased with it, so I would make this again, though perhaps not right away.

Yellow tops

The pattern author has come up with some cool animal themed alternatives, too, as well as this flower version which I may try next time.