I just finished my first Estonian sock (no pictures right now, the battery is charging). As I got closer to the end of the toe I noticed I was very short on yarn. I knit faster. The yarn got smaller. I realized I would probably need to get another skein. Miraculously though I finished the sock with one gram of yarn to spare. For us Americans who are lousy with the metric system, one gram = a really, really tiny amount of yarn. Like a yard and a half. Maybe.
So that was a win.
On the losing side of things there is a gift I have been knitting in secret for quite some time. I am knitting it from my own hand-dyed yarn. I used my very accurate scale and my percentage calculator. I did math. I puzzled. I fretted. I started my fancy-ass lace edging with what I thought was the correct amount of yarn plus a little extra cushion. I pulled the yarn out of my bag last night and gasped to see it's tiny size. I weighed it. I calculated. I have only half the amount left that I need. I couldn't possibly dye more yarn that will match the original. But I can't stomach the idea of ripping it out. It's so pretty but unfinished.
So that was a loss.