Stockinette stitch looks striped not a “v”

I picked up knitting about a month ago after not knitting for a very long time. I’ve been doing practice swatches and simple projects. I’m a tight knitter and trying to learn tension techniques to knit looser after making a hat that was a disaster. Now, suddenly my stockinette is not a “v” but it’s stripes. I’m knitting and purling in the right direction, wrapping my yard counter clockwise, watched knit and purl video galore. I’m have no idea what to do next. I feel like my skills are devolving and not evolving. Photo attached of my stripes.

Welcome to the forum and to knitting!

Your knitting does look lovely and even. This problem of unequal arms on the V of the knit stitch is due to the way the yarn was spun. This article from knitty has clear photos including one that looks very much like what your seeing.

https://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/FEATwhyply.html

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OMG thank you so much! I thought I was losing my mind. Now I just need to decide if I want to complete the project with the stripe look or if I want to use a different yarn. That article was very interesting. Thanks again.

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What a wonderful article!

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I really like the effect of the stripy knit stitch rather than a v shape. And your knitting looks very neat and even, tension looks good. Maybe use a different size needle if you swatch come up bigger or smaller than the recommended gauge for a pattern.

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Here’s another great article from Patty Lyons. She explains how this is also optical illusion! Fascinating!

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What kind of yarn are you using? I’m guessing it’s a “singles” (only one ply). Great colour!