Coo coo ka-choo, how do you do?
Guess who bought some more patterns? Me! Guess who hasn't tried most of the patterns she's purchased over the years? Also me! The excitement of looking at all the new patterns overshadows the stress of actually putting them to use. It's so much fun thinking of different variants for each item like color scheme or copyright avoiding titles. Now imagine my disappointment when the pattern itself says don't change the colors.
I've gotten back into Pinterest, mostly for color palettes since I suck at those, and one of the patterns that kept getting advertised to me was one for an infinity cube. I happen to have a set of knock-off ones that squeak when they move, so I figured, hey, maybe I can make a silent one instead of buying a replacement. Very efficient alternative, I know. My cubes, however, are galaxy themed, so I wanted to use Landscapes or another swirly color yarn to make a fancy looking cube. Sure, that's probably making a ton of extra work for myself, but it should be fine, right? Ha ha, wrong!
I bought an assortment of fidget style toys and eagerly checked the patterns. Quick to make? Okay! Doesn't look particularly hard to put together? Sweet! Anyone who used other colors had trouble assembling the cube(s)? Sure! I mean, huh? I wouldn't be the only one having problems with different colors?! I'm sure I'm just overreacting here, but that sounds super ominous. I'm very unknowledgeable about how testing patterns works, but if well versed crocheters struggle with cube placement, I am doomed.
Okay, some experimenting to do if I head out from primary colors, but otherwise the patterns are cool and easy to understand. How about the other ones I got of popular ninja anime series and popular demon anime series? Complicated, accurate as far as I can tell, and pretty understandable? It's a bit of a shame not knowing most of the characters for silly renaming reasons, but otherwise another solid set of patterns. The one issue? Not having all the fan favorites! Popular demon anime series has a whole squad and only three of the nine characters have patterns! The ones that are done seem like they're a pain to reimagine as crochet, so I give major props to the maker, but pink-hair waifu and eye splotch man will be missed. At least, according to the amount of cosplayers I see filling conventions. Popular ninja anime series? That's a can of worms I didn't want to open back in 2009, I am not opening it now. I only know the two main(?) heroines and neither had patterns included.
I'm super happy with my purchases, but I feel conflicted to make them for my shop. At least as far as I've seen in terms of comments, people will keep asking for plushies I don't own. I personally have no connections to popular ninja anime series, but I want to avoid having people flood with "Where's character?" or "I want character too!" Please complain to the maker! Not me! I am working with what is available! Oof, I'm feeling pressure from an imagined audience. It's that "have to know every scenario before beginning anything" thing I've got. Curses! Foiled by myself yet again!