Learning to knit good second project?

[Kristin0105]

I am teaching myself to knit by making a scarf. I am really enjoying it, mistakes and all! I am practicing different stitch patterns, learning what happens if I do xy or z and even tried some fair isle on it to get the feel for how that would work  (I ended up doing it on the side opposite that I wanted to, but hey it's a scarf. So my question is, once I finish the scarf what would be a good second project to try? I want to make mittens, socks, and hats are any of these possible for a second project or should I try a blanket or something else a little less complicated? I am making the scarf by just knitting as I please so I have not tackled a pattern yet. I feel a little intimidated by patterns but I figure if I can knit this scarf and it actually looks pretty cool in an odd what's with all the different stitch patterns kind of way I can tackle a simple pattern.

[mary3mama]

I'd recommend a corner-to-corner style shawl or blanket. It is simple and will allow you more experimentation and more of a chance to see what happens when you do "______"

A simple pattern for either (just depending on how big you make it, really) is to cast on 5 stitches, knit a row and then with each successive row:

k3, do a yarn over (YO), knit to the end of the row. 

only do the YO at the beginning of each row.

this will give you a very simple garter stitch piece

Keep doing that until the piece is as large as you want. If you are doing a baby blanket then start the decreases:

k3, YO, knit 2 together (K2tog), knit to the end

now keep doing that until the piece is down to 5 stitches (or whatever you started out with) and then bind off.

If you want to make a shawl -- then you don't need the decreases....just bind off whenever it is the size you want.

After that I'd recommend a hat...but personally I needed more knitting experience than just a scarf before I was ready to try circular knitting. It is not hard but it is tricky at first.

HTH,

[sapphire_chan]

That was the project that helped me the most with knitting. It really let me get  a feel for the structure of knitting which helped immensely with correcting problems in later projects.

Cabling is fun!

Or you could learn knitting in the round, check out http://www.kimberlychapman.com/crafts/knit-tutorials.html

What knit item do you need in your life? Make that.

[ancoda]

The only thing I have had come out the way I wanted them to is hats, so I would recommend that as a second project. 

[Owen'nZoe]

Of the projects you mentioned (hat, mittens, socks), the hat would be the simplest.