Just because you prefer other things doesn't mean it's wasted effort. Even if no one else used it (which isn't the case here), there's nothing wrong with working on a side project just to build your skills.
So basically I don't find it a valid reason to make an entirely new thing because the existing solutions did not worked the way you wanted.
I mentioned it in another comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15511028) but none of the things I wanted to change in Hugo could have been done.