Are You Kidding Me?

I've recovered from the fiasco of the tiny sweater; I frogged it and after a decent interval chose another sweater which I thought would serve the yarn well - the Seamless Yoke Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmermann. The pattern is simple and easy to follow (one would think...), and I ordered some colors to make fair isle designs on the yoke. So far so good. I swatched and measured said swatch. I measured a sweater that fit me for the size, and decided that 40" around would be good. I did the math, cast on 200 stitches and knit happily away. I did have some misgivings that it seemed small - couldn't be - I'd swatched and measured. I continued knitting, and it still looked small. Finally I put it on 2 needles so I could stretch it to measure and:

Yes, upon closer inspection, that number is:


As anyone with half a brain (sadly, I seem to have less than that) will tell you, 18 X 2 does not equal 40. The sweater now looks like this:


And I am drinking this:


Looks like moonshine, doesn't it? It's actually a lovely local brew that The Professor picked up. I think it's helping, but it still won't make 36=40.