There is usually another way to connect the dots.

My name is Ada Perrin. I make visual puzzles at a desk overlooking a narrow courtyard in Delft. Most begin with a sheet of plain paper and a question small enough to test before dinner: can this path visit every point, can a pattern survive one missing stitch, or can the same shape suggest two different rules?

I like the moment before a solution becomes obvious. A page that looked crowded suddenly has a quiet route through it. To make that moment last a little longer, I work slowly and keep the unsuccessful attempts. The crossed-out lines often explain the puzzle better than the clean final drawing does.

This notebook brings together paper experiments and thread experiments. The materials behave differently. A pencil line can cross another without complaint, while a strand of thread adds thickness and tension. Moving the same idea between them is a useful way to discover which parts belong to the pattern and which belong to the material.

Nothing here requires special equipment or a background in mathematics. If you can draw six dots and are willing to try something twice, you can follow along. The puzzle bench has an exercise to begin with, including the rule I changed after my first version became far too easy.