i would say a hat, a triangular shawl, or maybe a simple tank top (you can find a good patter in the book “stitch n’ bitch”).

tote bags are also very easy to make up as you go along.

A 2×2 rib hat maybe? You can knit it flat and seam it (good seaming practice) or knit it in the round (good circular knitting practice).

I’d also recommend Calorimetry:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTcalorimetry.html

Don’t be intimidated by the short rows, it’s really easy and fast to make (I made two over a weekend), plus looks super cute!

A shrug! You can make a cool shrug with just the knit stitch and absolutely NO increasing or decreasing.

1. Get a ball of worsted weight yarn (this info is on the ball band).
2. A pair of size 11 needles.
3. cast on about 34 stitches. Knit about 10 rows and make sure your material is wide enough (you want it to be 14 inches wide).
4. Keep knitting until your material is long enough to reach from hand to hand when your arms are outstretched.
5. Once you have bound off all your stitches, lay your piece out flat, from end to end.
6. At one end, sew the long edges together so that it is long enough to fit your arm.
7. Do the same to the other end.
8. Put on your shrug!

Definitely a hat.

A felted bag! There are some really simple patterns out there. Check www.knitty.com and the websites of yarn manufacturers for free patterns (lion brand has some good ones).

The knitting is basic and the best part is….even if you make a few mistakes in the garment, the felting process camoflauges any blemishes! Good luck!

I agree with all the hat suggestions. Not only are they small enough to finish in a reasonable time and don’t usually use very complicated stitches, they’re also very noticeable when you’re wearing them so you’ll get lots of “ooh, you really made that? Gosh you’re so talented!” comments!

Yarn Harlot (www.yarnharlot.com) in Knitting Rules highly recommends hats as beginner projects. I, personally, agree with MSU ChiO and say a felted bag. Super easy and they look great!

This pattern used to be free online
http://www.chicknits.com/catalog/h2ohat.html
It’s a hat using colinette point 5 and it is the easiest thing to make (it really can be done in 2 hours) and looks great. It made me fall in love with colinette yarn! (you can get good deals on ebay-it’s expensive)
I also think a simple bag is a good project, check out kids knitting books-sounds silly but I use them all the time. A good one with an easy bag pattern is Knitting by Judy Ann Sadler. Good luck!

I’d also say a shrug. There are also tons of beginner projects on a lot of yarn manufacturers’ websites:
http://www.caron.com/free.html
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/
http://www.berroco.com/pattern_library.html

Also check out this recap of the DIY show, Knitty Gritty, that has some ways of making things other than scarves out of rectangles. There are more patterns here from that show as well.

Try a dishcloth. Tons of free patterens online. (knittingpatterncentral.com has a directory to free patterns online for just about anything you could imagine. Use cotton yarn, they work great for washin dishes or washcloths too. This is also a great way to try out new stitches and patterns. Good luck

Dish clothes are super easy and quick. The other thing that is great is that you can use it right away or give as a gift! That’s how I started and now I’m onto a scarf for my son. Now all we need is the snow!

‘hope noone has said it yet:
a stuffed bunny!
it is a simple square. the secret is in the finishing.

let me have a looksy and find ya the link…

{rummaging…}

Ah.
there it is!

http://www.heartstringsfiberarts.com/bunny.shtm

kewwwl proj.
good luck

Hi-
I second the hat idea- although I would say knit anything you want to. Don’t be intimidated by not knowing how to do a certain stitch or how to read a part of the pattern. If you have a knitter friend or can go into your local yarn store to have these questions answered, you’ll never forget how to do that stitch again or how to read that pattern correctly! The first thing I ever knitted were baby booties but then I made a hat on 5 dpn’s and therefore, I’ve never had a problem knitting with those, whereas some people would rather knit with a circular needle rather than dpn’s…anyway, go for it! Knit what you want and then take a picture of it for us all to see!!!

I have cold feet and I looooooove slippers so here is a simple favorite:
http://www.aokcorral.com/projects/how2oct2005.htm

All you have to know how to do is cast-on, knit and bind-off.

I enjoy making dishcloths. They’re a great way to learn new stitches which you can then apply to other projects. A bag of some kind is a reasonably sized project that’s not too complicated. Try knitty.com for some project ideas. Anything labelled mellow is fairly simple. If you get stuck on a technique, check knittinghelp.com. They have great little videos which demonstrate things far more effectively than just describing them.