I have been knitting for a month now, and learning very much.
Yesterday, while my boys were snowboarding at
Wilmont mountain, I sat in the lodge by the fire and worked on my latest project. I decided to make a wrap to wear with my little black dress to my husbands "holiday" party coming up in a few weeks. I am using an online pattern for a
Chenille Wrap using Lion-Brand Chenille Quick and Thick yarn ©- color -Amethyst Print. I learned a valuable lesson!
USE AN APPROPRIATE NEEDLE LENGTH!
I started out using a shorter "scarf" length needle size 11 because it was what I already owned. As you can see from the image there is a serious problem with the edges on the right side of the wrap. The edges are not straight. I was thinking the problem was one that blocking would fix but then I decided that maybe the needle length was a problem. (My observation was that stitching 30 stitches on a short needle made the yarn bunch up and maybe this affected the tension on the edge.) Well, after purchasing a longer needle, I found that not only did the edges knit better, but the whole piece was knit more consistent. (see left side)

I have added the "small scarf needle" in the image below and set it at the point where I switched to the longer needle. What a difference! What a lesson!

Now the question is if I should use this piece or not. I think I just may finish the wrap and hope that the way it drapes will hide the imperfection. More on this later......