The Not-so-wonderful world of knitting

I have been making an afghan for a Christmas gift. After I finished the last panel--Panel No. 7 and laid out the rest of the afghan, I realized I had 2 left outside panels and no right outside panel. So now I am knitting frantically trying to finish the right panel in time to mail the afghan!!! When will I learn that knitting under pressure never works? The last time this happened, I was making a sweater for a gift and the back was longer than the fronts (Yes, I had planned to make the whole sweater 2 inches longer than the pattern stated, but forgot my plan halfway through). There must be a law somewhere that states that knitting is only to be done as a hobby or at your leisure otherwise it will not cooperate. Oh well, humility is a virtue and my knitting is often humiliating.