Why did I ever agree to this, Ottilie wondered for, perhaps, the one hundredth time as she stared down at a pattern that made no sense. Of course, the purpose of test knitting was to make sure that the pattern was usable as intended, but. BUT. This pattern had so little thought of even knowledge put into it! It was supposed to be a cute sweater!

Maybe it could still be a cute sweater if she possessed three tits and an arm sprouting from her gut…

Setting the project down for a moment, she massaged the bridge of her nose, trying to figure out if it was worth trying to continue this or if she should just give up and manage her losses in time and materials. The test chat was remarkably quiet. The last questions asked had been days ago with no answer from the creator. Humming softly, she scrolled through the chat and frowned. The QnA portion might be quiet, but the main chat was blowing up with angry testers. She read a little and sighed. AI pattern, a creator who had more interest in aesthetic than accuracy. No, this really wasn’t going to be worth the migraine it would produce.

Leaning back in her chair, Ottilie held her phone for a moment before beginning to type, thumbs moving rapidly.

Gauging is wrong, size grading is amateur at best. Girl, do you even understand how anatomy works?!? I’m sorry, I am withdrawing myself from this test. Rest assured that I will delete the pattern and never touch it again. As I purchased my own yarns, I believe this neatly severs my obligations to you.

For those of you toughing this out, godbless, godspeed. You’re stronger than I.

She read and reread her words a few times before hitting send. She would doubtless be causing a shitstorm. She might even get harassed by the creator’s stalwart fans. If she didn’t have time for piss poor patterns, then she certainly didn’t have time to fend up would be white knights. She quickly removed herself from the group chat and set up some filters on her email. What a good thing that I don’t use the same names for my personal and business accounts, she thought. The Cafe’s social media would be safe, at least. Feeling better, Ottilie stared at the sad bundle of yarn that had so wanted to be a sweater. Well, it still could. But she’d be using a pattern that she knew was good.

Settling back into her chair, she began the process of frogging all while going through her mental catalogue of patterns she owned. This yarn was lightweight, colorful. It had thin threads of sparkle running through it. Now, she did have that pattern for an off the shoulder sweater. She could even alter it a bit to give some extra drape along the top and sleeves. She’d need some smaller needles and it would be almost all stockinette, but that was all right. That pattern was more about color than fancy stitches. Yes, she’d do that. It would give her something to do at night when she was out patrolling and there was nothing happening.

Feeling braced by this thought, she continued to frog the project, all while humming lightheartedly.

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