Places to explore knitting:
Ravelry
Free Patterns:
DROPS Design
Free Knitting Pattern of the Day
My favorite knitting blogs:
Tami's Amis home of WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays
Eskimimi Knits lots of neat ideas
The Panopticon funny blog about knitting
Stitched Together I love her color and yarn choices. Very inspiring.
Crochet blogs:
Attic24 beautiful projects, lots of color
Favorite shopping:
JimmyBeans great for upper end yarns and such
Knitpicks great for inexpensive yarn, where I got my interchangeable needles