Writing encryption algorithms as a weekend project should generally be approached in the same way as one might approach writing aircraft control code as a weeke

Writing encryption algorithms as a weekend project should generally be approached in the same way as one might approach writing aircraft control code as a weekend project: Never use it, never distribute it in a way that someone else might mistakenly think it's a good idea to use it (so posting it on github would probably be a mistake!) and expect your implementation to have bugs you don't realize. (Even if you shove plaintext in and get the right ciphertext out doesn't mean you've found all the bugs, it gets tricky and in some cases different specific algorithmically correct implementations can have not just different performance characteristics, but different runtime security characteristics.) Otherwise, enjoy. Most people tend to find weekend projects more fulfilling if they have a way to put them to use. So while I don't mean to go all "this is dark arts that no one should practice uninitiated" on you, I would encourage you to stifle your tendency to find a use for any encryption code you write that isn't peer reviewed. View it as purely an artform; code never to be utilized. This is the same advice most security researchers give to themselves and others.