Howdy! I have a wonderful collection of knitting and crocheting books (among gardening, schooling, mysteries, and unfortunately the list keeps going on....we do have a wonderful library, though) Anyway, there are two very wonderful books to start out in knitting..... Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Knitting. (She has one for crochet,too) great explanations and excellent pictures!, and Nancie Wiseman's The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques.... multiple ways to do increases, decreased, seams, button holes, etc.... and the pros and cons of each technique to help you choose. I hope this is helpful. You can look up the reviews on Amazon. Knitting is not hard. I am a bit uncoordinated and very much enjoy knitting..... so if I can do it, anyone can! There are SO many more patterns and styles to choose from than crocheting (although I like that too). Hope this is helpful! God bless, Lynn