Crafting and having different stats on items

With the dye system changing (understandably), I think a good alternative to getting the customized stats would be adding a variable item to the crafting pattern, similar to the dye system.

Example:

Armor of Awesome
50 DEF
+20 HP

Items needed to craft:
Awesome ingot
Awesome cloth
Awesome leather

Armor of Awesome Alternate
50 DEF
+20 HP
+10 Vit

Items needed to craft:
Awesome ingot
Awesome cloth
Awesome leather
Awesome hide from some NM


Allow us to run around and grab items from bad guys to get the stats we want.