Does this look correct?

[PoppyKenna]

Hey all. I'm a -very- new knitter and I'm trying to make a scarf. I cast on by using the "kitting on" stitch and now am just using the knit stitch over and over again to make it longer. Hopefully that's correct.

Anyway, for being the very first thing I've ever done, I'm not totally unhappy with it. The yarn I'm using is very soft, it seems to be holding together pretty well, etc. My only concern is that my rows seem to alternate in strips - one seems raised, the other seems lower, and so on. Any other pictures I'm looking at don't look like this, and I'm not sure if mine is supposed to either. Is this okay, and if not, what am I doing wrong?

Here's a picture (hopefully) that will show you my issue.

[suzeeq]

That's absolutely normal, what you're doing is garter stitch and it has ridges and valleys like that. You may have some uneven tension which will even out when you wash it; it's also possible the needle is a little too large for the yarn, but that will also even out when you wash it. By the time you're done, that uneveness shouldn't be there, but it'll still all wash out.

[Jan in CA]

It looks like you're doing a great job on your garter stitch scarf!

Any uneven tension you have will get better with lots of practice. And as Sue says it often gets better after you wash it. I wouldn't worry about it now. Just keep knitting.

[GrumpyGramma]

The first time I looked at your photo I wondered what the problem was, I really couldn't see anything wrong unless you thought you were doing stockinette, so left it for more knowledgeable knitters. Yeah, it looks like a great start to knitting garter stitch to me too. Keep up the good work!

[suzeeq]

Oh right, if you're expecting all the Vs on one side and all the bumps on the other side, that's stockinette stitch and you have to alternate a row of all knit stitches with a row of all purl stitches. You can do that now to break up the garter stitch, but do the first and last 4 stitches on the purl row as knits instead, otherwised the edges will curl under.

[GrumpyGramma]

A link to stockinette stitch:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...9QEwAA&dur=734

A link to garter stitch:
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=garte...w=1368&bih=906

The second image is the same as what you have.

[PoppyKenna]

Thanks for all the answers! I guess the images I was previously looking at were wrong. I'm relieved to know that the scarf will still turn out fine

[suzeeq]

They may not have been wrong, depends what you were looking at - stockinette stitch, or garter stitch - and if you were expecting one stitch, but ended up with the other. You have garter which will look great.

[Tntgin4118]

[quote=GrumpyGramma;[/QUOTE]

absolutely LOVE your sig line!