My ropes didn't look that good actually. I leave even more steps out of that tutorial than people realize. If you can go back, or next time, to that layer with the ropes go to the left and select the blur tool. Make you selection area 5 pixels or even less and simply blur the edges of the rope. Do so very carefully. You may even want to set the hardness of the blu effect to 40% so it takes several passes. You don't want to blur all of the rope, just the edges. I look at mine and I can see room for improvement still.
And thank you! I'm happy to hear you found it constructive.