It is better to have worn and lost than to have never worn at all

So last week I finished this cardigan. Pretend that I am an aged (through the miracle of movie make-up) Richard Dreyfuss conducting a large orchestra because this sweater was my opus. It was very (very) cabled Autumn Vines Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio and loved it . Notice, my use of the past tense?
On my first day of wearing my cardigan to work I realized that it had been the victim of a chicken broth splashing (which is the lesser of the two evils that it suffered). I was pretty mellow about this little upset. After all, chicken broth washes out easily. So I put it into the laundry on a gentle cycle (cold) wash. When I went to take my little lovely out of the washer however I realized that my two year old had been playing with buttons and had turned the wash to warm. Voila! Felted cardigan. Ughhhh.
First I wash nauseous, almost tearful. Then I decided to do my next one in purple. That is the beauty of knitting, I made it so I can remake it. Probably even better than the first time. Take that fate! You just cannot hold a happy knitter down.