Swatch

A test piece worked before a project begins, used to measure gauge and to judge how the fabric behaves. A useful swatch is at least 6 inches or 15 centimetres square, is worked in the project stitch, and is washed and blocked the way the finished piece will be.

The swatch is also where you find out whether you like the fabric. A yarn worked at the gauge a pattern demands can still feel too stiff or too loose, and that is information worth having before ten skeins are committed.