1. Take up another yarn craft.
Knitters are, I've noticed, notoriously non-monogamous when it comes yarn crafts. Many knitters also at least dabble in crochet, spinning, weaving, dyeing and/or other creative fibre arts. This is a great way to improve your knitting without even realising it. Take spinning, for example: when you spin your own yarn, you learn a lot about twist, staple length, plies, and how these affect both the nature of the yarn and the nature of your finished item. A better understanding of yarn characteristics will help with yarn substitution, fitting yarn to pattern, the best blocking and finishing techniques, and a myriad of other not-so-minor details. The yarn you use matters.
Or consider crochet. When I began to dabble in crochet, I was fascinated by how much more adept you must be at reading your crochet to successfully complete a project than you must be at knitting, and it inspired me to take an even closer look at the construction of my knitwear. In addition, crochet and knitting are often paired together in a single project, increasing the variety of patterns you can complete if you're competent at both arts.
Anytime you're working with yarn, even if you're not knitting, you can be learning something.
2. Read.
Read everything about knitting that you can get your hands on. Read about the basic formation of a knit stitch (seriously, if you understand the path each stitch takes, your knitting--and your confidence in fixing a mistake--will improve dramatically pretty much right away). Read about different types of yarn and their effects on your project. Read about different types of sheep and their effects on your yarn. Read about the construction of lace. Read about the history of knitting. Read forums and websites if you're bored online. Just read, and your knitting will thank you for it.
3. Reverse engineer, then check your work.
Like my other two tips, this is a great way to shift from simply knitting towards understanding your knitting. Pick a project for a pattern you have access to--either one you've already bought, or one that's available for free--and try to figure our how the designer made it. Perhaps you want to deconstruct the shaping in an interesting sweater. Or maybe you've found a stitch pattern that looks really cool. Examine the photos (or, if you have the sample available to you in person, so much the better), and jot down everything you notice. Once you think you have it figured out, check the pattern and compare it to your notes. Even better, if you do later have the opportunity to knit, do some swatching and see how successful you were, and what you might be able to tweak to come closer to the original.
If you have a super dedicated local knitting group, or some knit-minded friends, this could also become a geeky fun activity--have everyone make a swatch or two and bring them in to swap, and have each person try to figure out how the other swatches were made. At the end, reveal! See if you can stump each other! Give away prizes! Winner gets a free trip to Rhinebeck! Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea.
The point is, there are many creative ways to improve your knitting, even when you can't knit--so what are you waiting for?
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