That's good. Even better is if the lesson learned from this is not just about front derailleur cable routing, but rather extends to applying observation, thought and logic to a problem before jumping in (either as the person with the problem or someone wishing to help). Also remember that it's important to post all info accurately. It's obvious that the OP could not have tried and failed to move the derailleur by hand to the large chainring if merely attaching the cable correctly allowed him to do so.