Yesterday I mentioned that, as part of the preparation for the Shiny New Thing, I am about to discontinue all my patterns. A few of my favorites will come back as part of the Shiny New Thing. Most will not.

Nearly everyone was lovely about this!

A few folks were…less so. I got a handful of nasty comments, and a whole lot of folks (with widely varying levels of tact) who really really needed to know why.

So first, in the gentlest possible way, I don’t need any reason other than I wish to.

Second, again in the gentlest possible way, I’m not required to explain. Many of those But Whyyy?!? messages come across as JUSTIFY YOUR CHOICES TO ME, A PERSON WHO DOES NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, SO I CAN DECIDE IF I APPROVE. That gets old fast.

Third, the actual reasons are complicated and business-y and kinda boring.

The general idea is that the way I write patterns (number and type of photos, amount of detail/handholding, formatting and layout) has changed a lot over time. It’s important to me that everything I sell be something I’m proud of. Updating older patterns to the current style is a massive amount of work. I have more than a decade of sales data that show me that older patterns do not sell enough to pay for that work (most patterns sell more in their first three months than in the entire rest of their lifespan).

I have a limited number of hours in a day. Time I spend updating and maintaining a massive back catalog (hundreds of patterns across multiple sites make for a lot of admin work) is time I can’t spend making new things. If I have to pick, I’d rather spend time writing a brand new pattern (like this awesome hat) than on updating sock patterns from ten years ago.

I suspect most of you would prefer that too!

And again, most folks were absolutely lovely. I’m excited for what comes next. It’s so nice to see you excited for it too! But to the folks asking why, especially the more insistent ones, I’m going ask why you feel like I’m required to explain it to you. I’m not obligated to maintain an archive of everything I’ve ever done forever and ever and ever.

I get to do new things. And I suspect you’ll like them! But even if you don’t, it’s still my choice.