Knitting Nightmare and Austria...?

I had a complete failure come off my needles today. I had been working on the Rib and Cable Gaiter from the One Skein book. I was using Blue Sky Alpaca's Alpaca and Silk. I loved the process. Simple to memorize the pattern, a fast little project, a lovely yarn, more cables, a warm winter accessory. And then ...

The Knitting Nightmare

I did the bind off and what to my wondering eyes should appear...? A really big, really floppy, really disappointing finished object. It was simply huge.

So I thought, maybe I can full it a bit, shrink it down just a touch, I've got nothing to lose really. The result: Ruined. It didn't shrink it stretched. And now I have a really really big, really really floppy, really really disappointing, wet, sad, something. Ugh!

On a more cheerful note: Why all the warm wintery accessories when I live in Texas...? Austria. Austria...?