When In Doubt: Refer To Instructions

So, I knit my first sample. Shrugged my shoulders and went onto number two. After I made my increases and worked the stockinette for an inch or so, I thought about your needle size you chose and why, and maybe I would measure my gauge.

What a great mistake that was! 4.5mm needles I was using, until I measured my gauge. Too many stitches. Am I knitting too loose? I needed to go with a smaller needle. Upstairs I trot, hopping to find my Knitting Needle Gauge (I rarely know where I placed it last). Found a pair of 4mm needles. Worked it the stockinette some more, measured again! Upstairs I trot... 3.75mm... 3.5mm... and so the story goes until I left for work and I refused to think about it the rest of the day.

After the Guild Meeting, I sat on my comfy couch, picked up my knitting and gauge and measured. At this point, I realized I've been counting incorrectly, what I need is a 5mm needle to get 18 sts in 4". Upstairs I trot... 5mm (adi turbos to boot!)... and knit a few rows. I measured and got very close to the gauge. I ripped out sample two and casted on to re-knit sample one.

But alas, when in doubt: refer to instructions.

On page 10 of 16, Question 1 discusses gauge. It says to proplerly block the samples and measure the gauge of each. Which means, my gauge doesn't really matter, so long as I can count it properly and understand what's going on with my knitting. Would you read question 1 and tell me what you think about gauge?

WELL, haven't I taken this easy task of knitting sample one for granted? I haven't researched this much to knit, EVER! And, I have to admit, I'm enjoying it.

On another note:

I did get your message very late on Sunday evening. I wouldn't recommend using a slip stitch at the beginning. Only because pf page 3 of 16, the instructions state:

Selvedges: Swatches are to be knit in the pattern stitch indicated without additional borders or selvedge edges.

When I first started I thought I'd begin with dividing the first and last column:
K1, [P2, K2] to last stitch, P1.
But after reading the instructions, mine is the simple:
[K2, P2] to the end.

Back to square one.