Swatching 101

It was more important then usual for me to knit a gauge swatch for this project because I have never knit with Linen before.  This is Louet Euroflax Wet Spun Linen in the Terracotta colorway. 

When I swatch I am sometimes guilty of knitting an itsy bitsy square and calling that a swatch.  Unfortunately that kind of slacker attitude defeats the purpose.  When I do it correctly I do a swatch of at least 4 inches with a couple of garter stitches beginning and ending each row.  I also knit at least 2 to 3 rows of garter at the beginning and ending of the swatch to help it lay flat. 

This is my swatch after washing by hand with Soak and laying out to  dry.  The 8 knots in the tail of yarn denote that this swatch was knitted on size 8 needles.

This is the swatch after blocking and washing.  When dry it was 18 stitches and 23 rows in 4 inches just like the pattern gauge.

Tonight I started the project and will have to look at the first five rows again tomorrow before I knit anymore.  It looks awfully irregular to me!