The value of counting

I made the mistake of not checking my stitch counts, as the pattern suggested, as I blithely knit my Simmer Dim shawl by Gundrun Johnston.   I mean I successfully knit the aestlight shawl what could possibly go wrong.  Turns out things could go wrong.  And even though I had the feeling something wasn't right, my knitting looked much fuller then it seemed it should, I kept knitting.  Even though it seemed I,was using much more yarn then the pattern or other Ravelry knitters used, I kept knitting.   And in the end I had something that was similar to the pattern but clearly not the same.  So I blocked it aggressively.  And I will donate it to someone who will find a home for it.  And some day I will knit the pattern again and count as the pattern suggests.