It's Complicated

I'm one of these people who can't do the same pattern over and over and over again. I'm talking crochet or quilting or sewing or anything. Even when reading, I like to mix up the historical and contemporary and other things so that I'm not reading the same things back-to-back much.
Why?
Well, I mean, there's all those different patterns out there. Why not do a different one each time?
But, I also like to challenge myself. Sometimes too much.

Because I've been crocheting and quilting since high school thanks to my Grandma and Mom, I can pretty much look at a pattern and figure out how to do it without much trouble. So, when another round of friends started getting pregnant, I sat down to figure out what I wanted to do for blankets for them. I couldn't quite find a pattern exactly like I wanted, but I found one close, and did the pink one in it. I think it turned out cute anyway.
The green one I expected to be a bit thinner, but I think I used a thicker yarn than it called for. And that pattern wasn't hard, but it took a lot out of my hands simply because of how I had to hold the hook. I probably won't do that particular stitch again anytime soon for that reason if not for the other.
The quilt I found on pinterest, of course. The original was done in all blues, and that would've been cute, but I love bright blankets for babies. And I had a ton of gingham scraps. So, I came up with this instead. I sat down with my graph paper and measured and sketched and colored until I got it close to what I wanted. Then, I used my math skills and determined the size triangle I needed and voila. I think it turned out cute, too.
And while working on all these projects, the challenge of figuring out how to do them all, how many supplies I needed, how many stitches went in each row, etc., it helped the writing part of my brain, too. Because it was resting and could revive itself, too.
Do you like to challenge yourself? Do you look for a pattern that's a bit more complicated than not simply to keep your brain awake and working well? If not, how do you like to keep your noggin active?