The Doily That Got Away

I spent all last week working on a doily that I finally gave up on. This very rarely happens to me; usually I just keep working on a design until I get it right. But this one got the best of me.
It started out like all of my designs do; an idea and a sketch. I am working on my next Lovely Ladies Doily, which will be a little witch sitting on a crescent moon. I worked for 3 days to get the moon right, and instead of starting on the witch, (which I know is going to take some extra time to get right) I thought I would make the gift doily that is going to come with her. I thought it would take me a day, maybe two at the most.
I had an idea for a five-pointed star; each point of the star would be made of cluster stitches. The number of clusters on each point would decrease by one on each round; 9 on the first round, 8 on the next, etc. until I had just one cluster left for the tip of the point. Between each point I wanted to put a spider web design. Since it was to go with a Halloween doily, I would use black thread. I would call it the "Midnight Star" doily.  It all sounded good, and I was eager to get started on it.

My sketch for the Midnight Star. It is a good thing that I can crochet better than I can draw!

The first attempt didn't look right, and since I had only one ball of black thread I ripped it all out and started over (sometimes I save pieces that don't work until the project is finished, just so I can see what I have already tried.) Dc clusters didn't look big enough, so I tried tr clusters. The doily cupped so I added more stitches to the base of the spiderwebs. (When a doily cups, or curls inwards, it means you do not have enough stitches in the round. If it ruffles, it means you have too many.) I tried everything I could think of to get it right, but nothing worked.
I cannot even guess how many times I ripped that thing apart and started over last week. My daughter called on Friday and asked what I was working on. When I told her, she said "You are still working on that doily? Is it really big or something?"
Finally, on Sunday morning I ripped it out for the last time, and decided to give up on it. There is just something about it that I am not getting, and I was tired of trying to figure it out.

"Trick or Treat" doily in progress. I was tired of working with all black and wanted to add some color to this one.

So, yesterday, I started a new doily which I am calling "Trick or Treat," and I am happy to say that it is almost finished. But I will save my sketch of the Midnight Star, and maybe someday I will try again and finally  figure it out.