hi. i've been looking over a few knitting blogs and i've decided knitting could be the perfect craft for my upcoming dorm life since sewing machines are a no-go and i don't love my glue gun well enough to pack it.
so, tomorrow, without any knowledge of knitting whatesoever, i'm taking my butt to my nearest craft store (well, not really, wal-mart until i make a trip to the next town.) determined to be a knitter at the end of the day.
can anyone help me by telling me what kind of needles to use. what kind of yarn works best for learning and some how-to knit sites for beginners?
thanks so much!

If you're learning, use decnt-sized needles - at least 4mm, I'd say. (Not sure what that is in other scales.) If you can get good quality needles, do so. Plastic needles suck immensly.

Avoid fluffy, loopy, hairy, or whatever yarn. Just get the plain wool type. (You could try cotton, but it's not as elastic as wool.) On the band on the ball of wool, it should suggest a needle size for that wool. Get wool that's right for your needles (or needles for your wool, whichever is easier). I learnt to knit using black wool - not a good idea. Use something bright, like yellow, so you can see your stitches.

i'm trying to learn to knit, too. just go to the library and check a few beginning knitting books out. i'm using a really good one now, i think it's just called "the basics of knitting." it's really nice because it has big color illistrations of how to do the stitches. in my opinion, sitting with a book on the couch is much easier than trying to knit in front of the computer.

also, if there is a yarn store nearby, they might offer private lessons. the one near me is $10/hour, which i think i will take advantage of.

if you're going to walmart, I've always seen the learn to knit kits there. by boyle? or something. they've got a how to book.

other than that, about.com has a bunch of great links to teaching sites for knitting.

Ah yes, books. The only 'how to knit' book I've ever used has been 'The Pictorial Guide to Modern Home Knitting' by Catherine Franks (ed.). However, since it's from the 1940s, you might have a hard time finding it! :) Still, if you ever see it in a thrift shop, or a garage sale or something, it has a fantastic section on how to cast on. Some of the other sections (like, cables) are a bit confusing, but the basics are good. And it's got retro charm.

(The only reference I could find of it on the net was http://www.btinternet.com/~sally.j.smith/b41.htm (scroll down a bit).)

To be honest, it's a lot easier to learn from someone teaching you - if you can't get formal lessons, I'm sure you've got a grandmother/aunt/friend who can teach you.

OK, to save starting another knitting question thread, I'm gonna throw mine in here. I started knitting a few weeks ago-so far I can knit, purl, cast on and cast off. It's not much, but it's a start and I'm darn proud of myself.

I'm making a simple one colour scarf at the moment, but would of course like to go on to bigger and better things eventually. Next, I'd like to either make this scarf: http://www.chicknits.com/4uscarfpattern.html
or this hat: http://www.chicknits.com/chichatpattern.html
Both of these patterns say to use the yarn double. I don't understand how to do that. Can anyone help?

I also don't understand how to join in yarn when you've finished one ball, or want to change colour. It's probably a very silly question, but my big book just doesn't show how to do it, and I have a feeling it's a fairly essential skill!

Sorry for the dumb questions

there's no dumb questions - only dumb apologies for questions! ;)

when the yarn is worked double, hold two strands of yarn together and work as if it were one strand.

there's a couple of ways to join yarn - the way I do it, and I think it's the easiest, is to pick up the new piece of yarn, and hold it together with the old piece (like it's double - ) and knit with them held together for a few stitches. when you're done just weave the ends into the work.

of course, I've managed to knit with only one color! so I don't know how to change colors neatly. I'm sure someone else here does...

thanks for the help, guys! :) i think i will go to the library for some how-to-knit books. me, living off my computer, failed to think of that..
thanks for the sites too. :) i can't wait to start.

hi - about the changing-colours question:

a reasonably tidy way to do it is to only change colours at the start of a new row. you tie the end of the new colour ball of wool into a small loop (like you do when you begin to cast on). then you pull this loop through the first stitch of your row on your left-hand needle, just like you would pull the thread through if you were knitting or purling this first stitch in the ordinary fashion. this pulled-through loop is then the first stitch on your new row on your right-hand needle. go on and knit or purl as usual, with the new ball of wool. (the old ball of wool you cut off, leaving a bit of a tail hanging from the knitting)
of course once the piece of knitting is finished, you need to darn in all the tails.

about adding a new ball of wool when the old one runs out: you can just tie the ends of the two balls of wool together, and darn in the loose tails afterwards. else you could join in the new ball of wool at the start of a new row, as described above.

hopefully this makes sense? if not, let me know, i'll try explain better.

by the way, lots of 'learn to knit' books do have sections on changing colours and different ways of doing it - so perhaps it is worth hunting out other knitting books, maybe at your library, and reading their instructions. books should have diagrams, which will probably be easier to understand than just words.

Thank you very much tigersilk and kari-star! They're nice clear instructions (not too technical for me, which is the problem I have with some of the books), so I'll have a good go. Cheers!