Agreed! I prioritize having purses / totes bags that are knitting compatible (that is: large + no zippers / velcro to snag yarn on) and having simple cotton drawstring bags or ziploc that I can throw into them. I'm not into fancy project bags.
My favorite knitting book is the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible, and I use it a lot!
I love Hitomi Shida’s stitch dictionary.
Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible: 260 Exquisite Patterns by Hitomi Shida
Is this the same as the Japanese Knitting Bible
Barbara Walker Stitch Dictionaries or any stitch bible you might like better. These are older, but not as prettily produced as newer books.
Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible
One Skein wonders (I love all of them)
Hello, fellow crocheter to knitter here! It sounds scary and intimidating, but lacework. I've done lacework samplers (turned into coasters) and I'm working on a shawl now.
I picked out my 'samplers' from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible. It's all charts but reading the intro section on how to read them made them very easy to follow and the back of the book has pictures/diagrams on how to do the more complicated stitches.
The shawl I'm currently working on is free from Lion Brand, Feather and Fan Shawl. and in the past, I've done a simple triangle shawl. (lots of free patterns out for those!)
You could also try searching through Ravelry, including setting the "difficulty" filter!
The Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible is one of my favorites. The Knitter's Bible helped me advance my knitting past basics, and the Japanese Stitch Bible is really like a continuation. There are so many beautiful stitches in that book!