Learning to Knit

As if I don't have enough going on getting ready for the party this weekend....  But I like to unwind at night catching up on my favorite shows on the internet when everyone else is asleep.  But I feel so useless without something in my hands.  I'm sick of my Christmas Stockings Cross stitch again (more on that later) and have 3 unfinished crochet projects I'm just not motivated by.  SO I thought it would be fun to learn to knit...

This is after the first night, I learned to knit, purl, and even do these cool cables!  I just loved the braided look.  And yes, this is my practice sample.  I'll take it all out when I'm done, but for now it's fun to watch it grow, even though it's ugly with the miss match patterns. 

I decided to go with something a bit trickier just to see if I could follow the directions correctly.  Other than repeating row1 twice (not part of the the pattern) I like it and think it turned out well.  So any suggestions on favorite patterns for my first full (to keep, not unravel) knitting project?