What do you mean... swatch?!

I have to admit, I've never swatched in my life. Not once. I've always viewed as a waste of time that could be better spent workng on the actual project. I may have knitting up samples of lace, to see how it worked, but that's about it. I've always had good tension. I've always been able to pick up the the recommended yarn and needles and knit the pattern and have wonderful results. I've even been able to substitute yarns with minimal maths and still have perfect results

However, today I started a swatch.

This is for a number of reasons.

1. I'm not following a pattern
2. I'm making a gift
3. I'm using my own handspun and therefore don't have a recommended guage or needle size

This isn't to say that I'm knitting something difficult. I'm actually knitting something really easy. It's only a scarf in a basic checkerboard pattern, but I'm knitting it as a gift, so I want it particularly nice. Luckily, It appears that I'll only have to do the one swatch. It's knitting up rather well. I'm very happy with it