Going Nowhere Fast

I've been working on the Little Sister's Dress as a gift for the newest little member of my family. I was moving right along and SO proud of myself for following the directions just right. Even at the part of the directions where it just didn't seem quite right, I figured that the problem was with me, and not with the pattern and I decided I should just press on and surely it would all work itself out in the end.

By the time I realized that it would not work itself out in the end, I had been working for three days and this is what I had accomplished:

It is teeny-tiny yarn on teeny-tiny needles. I didn't especially want to un-do any of it, so I decided that since the problem was just that one of those little ridges had more rows/was longer than the other, I would just let it go. After all, this dress is for a baby and babies do not know how to count or use rulers.

I kept knitting and then came to the part in the pattern where it tells you how many stitches you should have on the needle. I counted my stitches, completely confident because I had been SO careful to not get my place mixed up at all, and was shocked when I had too many. I whipped out a piece of scratch paper and did some math.
65 (the # of stitches cast on) + 64 (8 stitches increased twice in each of 4 pattern repeats worked in rows) -1 (2 stitches knitted together at the join) + 64 (8 stitches increased twice in each of 4 pattern repeats worked in rounds)= 192...and that's how many stitches I had. I did it again and again, and again with a calculator just in case. I kept getting 192 and the pattern kept saying 178. I posted a question on Ravelry, mostly to make sure that I wasn't doing something crazy with my math and to see if there was anything that could be done. Of course, there were those who said I would need to start ripping back. I am terrible at ripping back, so I wanted to avoid this at all costs. Someone else explained the pattern differently than I had read it and sure enough, the pattern had been changed (corrected!) since I had downloaded my copy in June. I was happy that the error was nothing I did, but rather a problem with the pattern. I was still in the same situation though...rip back or not rip back? Someone suggested knitting the larger size (by adding 8 more stitches) and I decided to do that.
Until I realized that whatever mistake there was would effect the rest of the project, and I would end up having to purl for 12 inches instead of knit. I hate purling more than I hate ripping back, so I had my answer.
My Little Sister's Dress on day 5 is now half the size of the picture above that was taken on day 3. This is not good for project monogamy... I'm battling the urge to start a different project...and don't know how much longer I will last!