Alas, an elaborate swatch

See the photo in the second-to-last post there? The photo of what looks like the cuff of a mitten? This photo? Well, it's actually not a mitten in progress -- it's an elaborate gauge swatch! And boy, it's a good thing I made a swatch; otherwise, I might have just gone ahead and started my mittens for real, not bothering to notice until I was four or five inches into the first one that my gauge was too tight. That sure would have been embarrassing. I might have even considered just carrying on with my too-small mitten, had I not knit this elaborate gauge swatch, since I would have already spent hours knitting the real mitten. Yep, good thing I didn't just go ahead without swatching, especially since Adrian told me explicitly before I'd even cast on that she knits loosely, and I tend to knit tightly; I may have just gone up 0.25 millimetres in needle size and forged ahead. That sure would have been silly.

Now, please excuse me and talk amongst yourselves while I rip out my, ahem, elaborage gauge swatch....