Hello and help!

First of all, loving this site, it has been very helpful already! My mother taught me to knit when I was very young, and some of my fondest memories is of her dragging this sweater that seemed to take years to finish, but when she did (finally) finish it, it was gorgeous. Unfortunately it has been years since I picked up a knitting needle, so I am woefully out of practice.

I decided to pick it up again because I wanted to do this with my daughter as she has taken an interest in knitting, so I have been giving myself a crash refresher course.

I have found it seems to be coming back to me, especially the memory that my mother taught me as a lefty, but I am a little concerned about the scarf/shawl I am working on. My stitches seem to be doing something rather interesting, it’s very ummm wavy. I think it is maybe due to the length of my needles, not very long so it’s kinda bunched up. So just wanted someone else who has definitely more experience to give me an idea? Any help/advice would be appreciated!!!

Hi and welcome back to the world of knitting.

Your tension may be a little uneven, but the stitches should even out when you wash the item. You can do that now - put the sts on some thread and just hand wash it and lay it flat to dry. If that doesn’t seem to help, and you haven’t been adding or reducing stitches (count them and see if it’s the same number you started with) then if you can post a picture we might be able to see what’s going on.

Welcome to Knitting Help!
If your needles are much too short and you feel the sts are really crowded, it’s probably best to change to longer needles or go to circular needles. Fighting with overly bunched sts isn’t much fun and it makes even tension more difficult to achieve.