MMario's site is cool, but it's continental style & may not be what you want to learn. The knitting that way is easy, but I never could get the purls down. I'm also surprised at the demo pushing the finger against the end of the needle when finishing the stitch. That is completely unnecessary. A personal demo is your best bet.

I have the Reader's Digest book & love it. It has lots of information on adapting & design. It also shows different ways of casting on & off, increases, decreases, etc. with pictures so you can decide which method suits the look you want.

Lots of knitting instructions are written row by row, this is straighforward, but not much good if you loose count or otherwise make a mistake. Try to break the patterns down into their component parts & you'll soon be able to see what you need to do next without counting.