Hi and welcome to the forum!
This is a knit cast on and it works quite well but may give you the lacy efffect, especially if you pull tight on the stitches. You might try one of the other cast ons under Free Videos at the top of this page, Cast ons., maybe long tail cast on. I think some of this may not be so noticeable after you wash the scarf and the stitches relax a bit. The knitting on the body of the scarf is very nice and even and looks very good.
The video shows the knitted cast on. There are others you might want to try, check the free videos button at the top and you’ll find several to check out, try, and choose from. The long tail cast on is pretty popular and you might like the results from it better.
What yarn did you use? If it’s wool, blocking might help; if it’s acrylic, washing and drying might make it look better. Another option would be to crochet a border or to pick up and knit (I believe there is a video here for that too) and add to the end.
It looks like you used stockinette stitch, alternating rows of knits and purls, which will curl. For your next scarf you might want to add a border of garter stitch (knit every row) or seed stitch (k 1, pl then on the other side p1, k1) for about 5 or 6 stitches or you could work the whole thing in garter stitch. With practice, everything improves. It looks like you are doing well keeping even tension, that’s great.
And yes, it’s acrylic - so I can’t block. At this point, I’m ready to just finish this scarf and give it away as a joke, since it’s more tube than scarf. For my next project I’m going to be trying an armband with seed stitch, which I quite like.
I’m definitely going to try to crochet a border onto it though, maybe after washing it so the loops even out a bit first.
I think it looks great! But if you don’t like it, I’m not sure you should give it away as a joke. It represents all the things you learned knitting and your non-knitting friends might not understand that.
That’s a lot of valuable muscle memory you gained knitting that scarf and you might like the reminder in a year or so.
Besides, maybe you could incorporate into something else later. This is a gorgeous afghan that I’m going to make entirely from left over yarns and bits frogged from old projects. I’m even going to experiment with cutting up some of my past pieces and sewing them into these shapes.
