I only began knitting in September 2005 after not having picked up needles since I was a kid. The idea was to do it as a stress busting activity and I started by knitting a scarf in thick wool. Unfortunately I didn't realise stocking stitch is not a good one for scarves! My curled up scarf was soon replaced by half a dozen new ones mostly knitted in eyelash yarns.
Having decided that I couldn't possibly knit anymore scarves I progressed to hats and bags and a hlaf finished jumper. I pretty soon got bored with following patterns and started making my own for small but incredibly insane looking knitted soft toys which I can complete quickly to fit in with my busy life. These get given to various people including some of the teams I visit for my work as an IT consultant, I must surely be the only IBM consultant to knit an insane monkey for a blue chip client!
Because I'm a cheapskate I trawl the internet for free patterns, feel free to use and modify any of the patterns opposite, they should all be right but they don't come with any garauntees except that they are quick, easy and fun!
The best place I know in London is Teasels in Leytonstone. It's a great shop entirely stuffed full of yarn and the staff are very helpful to new knitters even offering to help out if you get stuck with a pattern! They even do 'lay bys' which my parents, who used to run a drapers shop, thought was a practice that died out years ago (they were always irritated by customers who had yarn put aside for them and never returned).
C&H Fabrics (a chain that has shops in Southern England including Chichester and Winchester) is also good
Liberty of London on Regent Street has some very fancy yarns but very expensive!
Knitting yarns.co.uk is a good website for hard to get yarns and useful if you don't have a shop near you
Shoreham knitting & needlecraft on the south coast has a big colouful selection of yarns