Hi, I love this site and anxiously await your reponse. I finally licked chrocheting and have a compulsion to knit. This site is awesome, the videos are amazingily helpful. I struggled to learn to decipher crochet patterns and finally got pretty good. Right now I am just practicing knit/purl and then I want to choose a pattern (other than a scarf) to knit. However, when I look ahead at patterns, I realize it feels like learning yet another foriegn language. Please help. I don’t have any books or guides (other than this site) and I want to choose a pattern that isn’t borning but not too intimidating. 
I hope I didn’t bite off more than I can chew. Suggestions for a first project or pattern would be great. P.S. Seems to me knit projects are much more attractive than crochet. I have a Lion Brand catalog and all the really nice projects are knit! Thanks and happy knitting! Julie
Hi Julie,
Welcome to the site; you are well on your way. Don’t worry too much about taking on more than you think is possible; just do it in ‘baby’ steps. I was in your position just a few years ago!
Have you ever considered checking out a knitting group in your area?
I go to one every week and it is amazing what you can learn from all of the experienced knitters, and they are always more than glad to show you just about anything you want to know about knitting.
Also, I refer to knitting magazines–and websites (of course!) for ideas which will usually tell you if the item described is either for a beginner or advanced.
Best of luck and keep going,
Merri:yay:
Just take it one stitch at a time. There’s usually a stitch key in each pattern that explains the abbreviations, but you can also look them up here in the Glossary, and many have videos.
Welcome to KH!
My mantra these days is: pick a pattern you love, and all the rest will follow! If you pick something you are absolutely in love with and want to wear really badly, then it’ll trump most frustrations.
There are a lot of factors – how patient you are, how much you love the project, how much you love the yarn, etc. So far I’ve found that it’s true: minus tension issues, if you can knit, purl, and yarnover, you [I]can[/I] pretty much make anything. (Tension issues seem to largely work themselves out eventually.)
As others have said, take it slow. Be willing to frog multiple times. See it as a learning experience that has the bonus of not only preparing you for the next project, but also for leaving you with a tangible result: something lovely to wear!
Are you on Ravelry? If you’re not, get yourself an invitation now! You can easily browse thousands of patterns there, by level of difficulty if you like. Knitty is a great resource as well.
Hope you have as much of a blast learning knitting as I am!
hi Julie
i’m also struggling with patterns but am getting use to the lingo now i think 
a really good way to graduate from knitting endless scarfs i found was to knit a hat. they are fun to wear with funky colour yarns. most hat patterns aren’t that hard but usually throws in somethings like (k2tog = knit 2 stitches together) which you normal don’t see in the average scarf. i think each project when you start out should be like stepping it up a level. pick something in your comfort zone but has some kind of new stitch that you have to learn. i have found youtube is also a great resource for knitting lingo when i’m stumped. good luck! :knitting: Laura
Welcome. I am a new knitter, myself. I have been knitting only about 3 weeks. I quit two times the past three weeks, promising it was doing me in, and I would never learn, but the people on this site encouraged me and I picked it back up. I have gotten decent at the knit and purl stitch and am now learning decreasing/increasing. My first project, which I didn’t finish, was a dishcloth: http://www.knittingknonsense.com/pawprintcloth.html The reason I didn’t finish is because it should be knit out of cotton, and cotton is not forgiving like acrylic. I was told to stay away from it until I am more experienced. I just did it until I got switching back and forth between knitting and purling figured out. Now I am learning some increase/decrease stitches and am doing some booties. I have already made mistakes in them, but I am going to continue until I finish one. Then I will know what those mistakes are and can do them correctly. I think for me getting the hang of knitting and purling was the big issue. I am just taking it one step at the time and going slowly. I have quit worrying about my tension because the people on here said just knit and it would work itself out. They know what they are talking about since many of them have been knitting much longer than me. I have to fight perfectionist tendencies so I am just taking things one step at a time. My master plan is learn knit/purl (check), learn inc/dec, learn to cable, learn dpns and circular needles. I would encourage you to stick with it. I too learned to crochet about 5 years ago and found it challenging until I got used to the feel of the needles. It was the same for me with knitting—getting used to holding the needles and getting knit and purl. Just hang in there. The people here are so nice and helpful and will answer any questions you have. I don’t know that I can answer any questions, but I can encourage you as a fellow beginner. Get an invitation to Ravelry.com, too. It took about a week for mine to arrive, but they are extremely helpful over there, too. I love both that site and this one.