Failed knitting projects

Hello all,
this week has been quite busy. I've been sewing a lot and starting new sewing projects, I guess I've been bitten with some sort of sewing bug lately. It has been nice to use some of my very old fabric stash.

But this post is about failed knitting projects and my own failed knitting designs I've done during the past couple of years. I can do a post about failed sewing projects later on, with some stupid errors I've made during the years when trying to sew clothes, toys, etc.
I mostly knit toys from my own patterns or I try to come up with a new pattern design. And sometimes the ideas fail totally or there is something just off with the result. These projects mostly end up in a box stored somewhere.
Learning to knit and then processing a pattern idea to a ready pattern is a process. Honestly, I don't like ending up with a weird looking toy that I can't really fix without taking it part and re-knitting pieces. But at least for me, these failed attempts that I've kept these past years are serving as a reminder or a tool to figure out what to do or what not to do with the new projects.
When I was younger and learning I had problems with gauge and the look of the knitted surface. As I grow older and learned to be a better knitter I've been happy with the surface of the toys. They don't have holes from too large stitches and the stuffing doesn't show from decreases or increases.

But with designing I quite often have problems with the proportions of the pieces, something is too small or too big. If I realize my mistake I normally just start all over again, but sometimes I can be in a car or a train or at the summer cottage where I don't have all supplies and I just sew the pieces partially together and then stuff later on and then the result is that the portions are off.

Like these two dolls. I made my grandpa doll a few years ago with almost the same pattern as the bigger doll, but somehow I got the head wrong in the end. He has been in my box of unfinished toys for quite some time now. The head has a tilt and the shape is just not right in my opinion. I think I could've use a bit smaller needles for this doll also.

The other doll was the 2nd attempt on a doll pattern and just wasn't as nice as the first I made, so I haven't had the motivation to finish the clothing and hair. I think I made the head smaller and limbs longer and it just didn't work in the end.

Sometimes I get one part of the design wrong like the shape of the head. Like these two toys, the cat's head looks more like a fox's head and the panda's face looks more like a mouse's face, these are a result of misplaced decreases. Sometimes the decreases can be quite tricky to plan in your head, an idea from a previous toy might not be as good as you thought. Both faces are rip-offs from two different bunny heads and would probably work better with a different animal.

Earlier I had the problems with feet but over the years knitting the feet has become much easier. Maybe the cat could actually have better-looking shoes than these bunny shoes though.

So what are the things that I've learnt from my failed attempts?
1) Knit again if something is off and triple check the numbers of stitches. 
Many times drawing the stitches and increases and decreases on paper does help to calculate the right amount of stitches. 
1b)Sometimes I've saved the piece that is too small or too big for a future project (mostly those have been crochet projects though)

2) Don't throw away the failed attempt of the pattern you've written down. 
Maybe you can use it as a reference for the next time or use it completely for something else. Right now I'm working on a knitting project that is based on the instructions I wrote in my journal for the mouse looking panda bear.

3) Try different yarn or different sized needles.
If I have a yarn that has a slippery feel to it when knitting I like to use smaller needles. I probably should've used reddish yarn for the cat so I could've turned it into a fox after seeing the face result.

4) Good sketches help and putting down the measurement you have in your head
I'm not really good at drawing, but this is not about the drawing skills, but moving an idea to a visual form. And I've gotten better at sketching down pattern ideas during the years.

5) Don't blame yourself too hard if something isn't right with the first, the second or the third try... Write down the problems and the stuff that you think looks good (or make a mental note of them if you're too lazy write it down like I am most of the time)
That's something I've learnt with sewing, but it applies to knitting and crocheting too.

6) Take time to appreciate how much you've learnt during the time you've been knitting
It is fun to look at the projects I made ten years ago and compare them to the projects I've made recently. There is definitely improvement.