A few weeks ago, I met up with a friend to go to a local craft fair, and she purchased a wonderful, knitted nautilus, based on this Knitty.com pattern. It was really well done and looked pretty cute, and it got me thinking about my attitude towards knitting.
For awhile now, I’ve not really thought too highly of knitting, at least as a craft that I could personally do. I don’t have anything against knitting (or crocheting) in and of itself, but the various examples of knitting’s end result have just never been appealing to me, either aesthetically or practically speaking. Perhaps it’s due to memories of hideously colored afghans and horribly itchy sweaters from my childhood, but none of what I saw ever made me want to pick up a pair of needles and make my own.
After seeing the nautilus and remembering photos of knitted organs though, I felt like I had found an area of knitting that is more my style. Forget toilet paper cozies and foofy scarves, I want to make some guts and fossils! 
I figured that I could at least try my hand at knitting, and if I really didn’t like it, I could just move on to something else.
So, this afternoon I went to Beverly’s to look for supplies. I found a copy of Stitch ‘N Bitch, which has pretty good reviews online, and then picked out a few basic items, including needles and a cheap skein of fairly soft yarn.
After having spent a few hours reading through the book and trying to cast on and knit a bit, I can definitely say that knitting is harder than I thought. Or at least it takes a different sort of mindset than what I’m used to with embroidery or making cards. It’s funny because I was just reading Kristin Nicholas’ post about how some knitters seem to have a hang-up about embroidering; I seem to have the opposite problem!
Anyway, I got a bit frustrated earlier, after my stitches kept getting too tight and the book didn’t explain the casting on technique that would help this. I won’t give up just yet though, especially with how many web sites there seem to be about knitting. I’ll keep trying, and would appreciate any sort of tips or tricks from the experienced knitters out there! 
Elizabeth said
Funny, I stumbled upon you craft blog just now… To cast on loosely, use a larger needle, at least one US size larger than the “working size” or even as much as twice as big in mm diameter (depends on the yarn, the gauge, and the desired effect..generally go bigger as you go bigger.). I am fairly experienced and I always cast on and bind off onto larger needles, it’s just easier to get it right this way!
In general, getting your tension right just takes practice. Eventually, your hands get the rhythm and knitting flows effortlessly from your needles. You should expect your first work to be sloppy, uneven, messy, too tight, etc. It just is. It gets better. Send me questions, if you like, I’d be happy to help you learn to knit, such as I can over these non-hands-on media.