Does anyone have advice for a novice?

Like GardenGalz said, a scarf is a perfect first project! It's a great way to get the hang on things. The websites that were reccomended to you are also a great place to start. If you are able to get it, I would reccomend a book called Stitch and *itch, by Debbie Stroller. It has great tips and tricks, and for someone like me who's not a good book learner it's written so that even I can understand it. I thin there are also tips on fixing "boo-boos" persay so you can learn to fix your own mess-ups. Also there are some pretty funky and fun patterns in the book including some new and excting scarves, a poncho, some sweaters and a few really cool bags. I love this book and have reccomended it to all my friends who have just started knitting. Happy Knitting!

well i think the best advice that anyone could give a beginner knitter is to practice the saying is true that practice makes perfect at least you have someone that can help you fix your mistakes the only way i know to fix my mistakes is to take out all of the stitches and start all over again it is such a pain in the but but at least it forces me to pay attention and focus on what i am doing after you knit a scarf you might want to try knitting a blanket think of it as like a wide scarf i think that would be not that much harder than a scarf but still challenging

If scarves are too long a project (forgive the pun, it was unintentional) you might pick up some of the cotton sugar and cream yarn (I think it's lilly brand?) and just do some wash cloths. It's a great yarn for finding your boo boos and learning to correct them plus you have wash cloths too. I had a friend who wanted to learn to knit. She stayed with me for about 3 days. As much as I loved her, she drove me nuts. When she started to learn she had nothing but problems. I was sooooo patient with her and kept helping her out. She finally kind of got the hang of it and was able to knit for about five minutes without help. At that point she looked at my Mom and announced that she was going to knit herself an angora sweater. She then asked how much it would cost. Mom kind of gulped and looked at her and spouted the first amount she could come up with which was about $200. My friend looked at her and said that she wouldn't do that coz it cost too much. She then asked where angora came from and Mom patiently explained that it came from angora rabbits from the hair that was brushed and plucked from them and that's why angora was so expensive. My friend was satisfied and went back to her knitting. After about five minutes she looked up and announced that she would knit herself a mohair sweater. She turned to me and asked how much it would cost. I answered with another made up amount of $150. She said "Oh, I guess I won't do that either". She went back to her knitting and suddenly asked the question I knew was coming. Where does mohair come from? That little thread that keeps my saneness together snapped. I looked her right in the eye and told her the next story. "Mohair comes from little mos that live in the Rocky Mountains. Once a year they have a mo roundup in the fall just after the first snow falls. People from all over the world come to the roundup. There's barbques, parades, beauty pagents, crafts, mo clipping contests, rodeos and more. Then, half way through the celebrations the cowboys come riding down the mountain herding the little mos into the special corals. It is incredible seeing the waves of the little animals flowing down into the town and into the corals. People have to make reservations a year in advance to go to the roundup." My mom ended up having to go into the bathroom to laugh at the story, as my friend was so engrossed in the story that everything else was totally tuned out. Just as I was getting to the final line of the story Mom came out of the bathroom. I had just gotten to:"The cost of mohair is so high because during the round up if the cowboys aren't careful and the horse steps on one of the mos, they're no MO." At that Mom was back in the bathroom laughing like crazy. Mom had just come back to the livingroom when my friend looked up and said "when I get back to work I am going to go right in and ask for my vacation in October so that I can go to the mo roundup!" Mom was back in the bathroom laughing again. Four hours later, after I had totally forgotten about telling the story my friend looked at me and declared "You're funning me! There is no such a thing as a mo round up!!!" Mom was back in the bathroom laughing like crazy. As for the knitting books, I also referred to the books : The right way to knit, and The right way to knit book 2. I think they're out of print, but you can usually find them either on Amazon.com or Ebay. Keep on working on it, you'll find that the more you do the better you get.

I am fairly new at knitting as well. I checked the book "Knitting for Dummies" out of the library. It's quite comprehensive. It has instructions for several stitch patterns like the Moss Stitch, Checkerboard, eyelets and even cable patterns. At first I would follow the patterns and knit a few rows of those patterns then rip them all out again! It wears the yarn out though. So I guess the better thing to do is make small swatches of the patterns just to get the hang of it. Not sure if someone already mentioned the Lion Brand website. They sell a large selection of knitting and crochet tools and awesome looking yarns! If you sign up for their email newsletter they often email series of stitch patterns that you can use to knit a scarf or dishcloth. The website is www.lionbrand.com. I think you may need to get used to ripping out part of a row where there's a mistake. Do it a few stitches at a time by sliding 3 or 4 stitches off the right needle and pulling gently on the yarn so they come undone, then slide them back onto the left needle right away so they don't slip down 2-3 rows. Either a crochet hook, cable needle or an extra needle is helpful to catch those stitches that come unraveled. It goes pretty slow, but at least you can start the row over and get it right! I hope this helps!