Why reading the pattern PROPERLY is important

well after a long and beautiful day out on the boat ( it was 37 deg C today) i came home and whilst watching the Australian Idol final kept on knitting. BTW Casey won! YEH

After having a glance at the pattern i saw i needed 28 and ASSUMED it was inches as every pattern i read is normally in them. After getting to row 90 i thought id give it a measure and have a look. Well 17 inches long and im having a few queries about the lenght of this top. I take the offending article to mum who looks at it and says well just adjust the pattern- looks at the pattern, turns to me and says- you said 28 inches didn't you- i replied yes, to which she thrust the pattern in front of me, rolled her eyes and said in that tone of voice only mothers can do- look the pattern says cm- not inches. Soooooo
after some serious head banging against the wall it was time to rip- and 4 days worth of (very) sparodic knitting (27 rows or 5 inches later) i had the lenght i wanted. I am making the top a little longer than the pattern states as i prefer things a little longer rather than on the short side.

So i am now going to commit my stupidity to immortality and memory and hope no one else makes the same mistake.