An Almost Disaster

Newly enamored with Last Minute Knitted Gifts, I decided to try the silk camisole. Only I decided not to make it with the recommended silk because 1. I'm cheap, 2. according to Knit and Tonic it pills the minute you sweat in it and 3. I'm cheap. So I hopped around the LYS and discovered some beautiful sock yarn in exactly the right gauge. The colors were rich and subtle. The feel was soft and smooth. Yes, Cherry Tree Hill, you had clearly gotten something right. I, however, had gotten something drastically wrong.
Actually, I had gotten several things wrong, but we shall see which is the most glaring. The first was gauge. I hadn't checked my gauge, was a needle size too big, and was knitting something that could have just about fit my dad (a 6'2" 220 lb ex-marine), when I was making it for me. Okay, minor setback. Ripped it out, checked the gauge dutifully, and I was back on track.
Then I couldn't read the first part of the pattern. As I was casting on, it gives instructions, then says place marker and repeat. I had not repeated. Well, at least it was the right gauge this time. Ripped it out, gave it another go.
Then came the lace border. The camisole itself has a little lace edging at the bottom, which is not the prettiest lace I've ever seen, but I was going to give it a try. Somehow, I kept getting the wrong number of stitches. I tried to fudge it, but the right number would never come out. I toyed with the idea of just skipping the lace entirely, but no, I said to myself, that would be lazy and wrong.
I checked the errata. I had already checked the errata when I first bought the book, but I checked it again just to be sure. Nothing wrong with this pattern in my edition. I tried the lace again. Still no luck, I kept getting the wrong number of stitches. I emailed the author. She told me to check the errata. I wrote out the lace pattern explicitly for my size and counted. No, it should be right. This time, armed with an army of stitch markers, I was going to get it right.
As I ripped back the yarn this last time, I marveled at it's beauty once again. And such a good deal, I thought to myself. All this was just one skein of sock yarn, enough to make a tank top.
Then it hit me. I had bought sock yarn. If you are a knitter, your ears (or eyes, or whatever part of you that's supposed to perk up when you're reading) have perked up at this point. Why yes, the very lovely Cherry Tree Hill Supersock.
Supersock. I had almost knit lace with a superwash. Lace, which must be blocked within an inch of its life, with a superwash, designed to defeat my every blocking effort.
Well, fine. I'm still going to make the tank top, just without the lace pattern, which was my original plan of retreat. The lace pattern really isn't that pretty anyway, and I can just echo the picot edge on the neckline. I'm just really glad I caught it now, before I did finally get the lace pattern right, and had no way to save it.
Although the way this tank has been going, other disasters may lurk in the future. So much for a six-to-eight hour project.