Since I have oodles of spare time...

[Becks]

...I'm half thinking of taking up knitting.

Knowing me, I doubt I'd be able to do anything horribly complicated, but I think I could manage blankets and scarves.

Any advice?

[taxguykarl]

I ask my mom about guides or how-to's. Offhand, she would tell you to take frequent breaks if you knit with a cat on your lap. She had ours trained NOT to attack yarn she was using.

[Frantic Freddie]

My Mom used to knit a lot,me & my brothers had sweaters & scarves runnin' out our ears

Find a knitting/craft store & tell 'em you wanna get started,they'll help you find the stuff you need & they might even have classes.

[Elspeth]

I recommend bamboo needles if you can get them. Dishcloths are also a great thing to learn on. You can find little books of a bunch of different stitches.

[BlaqueKatt]

Any advice?

well I learned from the Klutz book, and have made several scarves for people....it's step by step(illustrations and word instructions for both learning types) and considered to be foolproof-I had never so much as touched a set of knitting needles before-took me under 2 minutes to get started-I'm getting the crochet one soon

[Becks]

You guys rock!

Thanks!

[Kaylyn]

I'm a long-time crocheter, and recently took up knitting. I bought the little kit from Wal-mart that has two sizes of knitting needles and a bunch of random tools, plus a how-to book with several starter projects. I learned the basic stitches and...tossed the book aside, because I had a specific project I wanted to work on, a pair of fingerless gloves I saw the pattern for on a label of Caron yarn.

It took me a few days to get used to it, but I kinda enjoy it. Something different and more soothing about knitting versus crocheting. Now I want the t-shirt that says, "I knit so I don't kill people."

[trailerparkmedic]

Go to a yarn store. You can pay for lessons there, and you get to see how awesome good yarn is. Not that you'll want the good yarn for your first attempts.

I would make your first project a washcloth. They are big enough that you get the hang of things, and small enough that they seem doable.

KnittingHelp.com has some great videos and a helpful forum. Youtube also has good videos, if you know what you're looking for.

If you like knitting, I would suggest finding a local "knit night" so that you have a group of people who can help you with the tricky bits and give you suggestions on projects to attempt. I'd look at the local yarn store and also on Ravelry.

PM me if you have any questions or need help!!

[Monica]

My grandma taught me how to knit. I still remember, though now that I think about it, I forget how to finish it once I am done with what I am making. It's been years since I have knitted.

[Kaylyn]

Do yourself a favor. Stay far, far away from Red Heart yarn. My friend actually gets friction burns from trying to work with it! I honestly don't like the feel of it...way too scratchy for me. Caron Simply Soft isn't much more expensive, but it's much softer. It's currently my go-to brand of yarn because it's got a good variety of colors and is sold at Wal-mart.

Though I prefer Lion Brand or Hobby Lobby's store brand (I Love This Yarn) if I'm over in the city. And there's some alpaca Hobby Lobby sells that I'm dying to work with. And I'm looking for a project to give me an excuse to buy some homespun...I have too many ongoing projects at the moment!

[zombiequeen]

I have some Red Heart that isn't bad...but only certain colors (variegated blue, bright orange, bright green, and dark purple, the other colors I've tried burn!).
I like the super soft kind of shiny yarn (Caron?) for my amigurumi. For blankets, I get the pound of love or whatever it's called, it's shiny, kind of bulky, and in lovely colors.
I crochet though, my hands are too twitchy for knitting.

[AriGriffin]

For classes, try your local parks & rec or the library. The library I go to offers free knitting and crochet classes a couple times a month, all you have to bring are the needles/hooks and yarn.

[Food Lady]

I've tried crochet and knitting and all know is this: I can crochet because it's 1 stick and string, but add another stick into the equation and it's over.

[Kaylyn]

I like the super soft kind of shiny yarn (Caron?) for my amigurumi. For blankets, I get the pound of love or whatever it's called, it's shiny, kind of bulky, and in lovely colors.

My friend loves doing amigurumi. I haven't been able to get myself psyched up enough for it. Though the baby murloc amigurumi on Ravelry intrigues me. I'll probably just buy the pattern and pick out some colors and tell her, "Here, make me this!"

She says she doesn't like Caron for amigurumi because it's so thin...it makes the critters kinda misshapen. Though, she used Caron for her first attempts, so it may be that practice, and not a yarn change, was the real improvement.

[Bex]

I decided that I wanted to crochet one day so I watched a tutorial on youtube. The next day I had a scarf. It was fairly simple and when I would get confused (which happened quite a bit) I could just look at the video again. Best of luck to you! You will have to post pics of your creations!