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Well... there are a couple of ways of doing knots, from very rigid way of drawing grids to the loose/chaotic way that I've done some. All ways are worth practicing.
For the traditional rigid formula way, I'd recommend either getting hold of a book by George Bain - 'Celtic Art - The Methods of Contruction' which is very in depth, check out decent libraries and photocopy a page or two if you cant buy it. Or go google "knotwork celtic construction method" and terms like that and there are a couple of ways that other people have figured out, which can be interesting to read/inspire you.

Or for the more chaotic/organic approach (ie not traditional), that I do goes something like this quick tutorial:
Draw a squigle of a band that joins back up to itself. (diagram 1 in quick tutorial in scraps)
A one point in the band, break it by making it into two ends (diag 2) have those wind their way around and join up again (diag 3), and repeat as necessary.
To spice things up, can do the same with a thin band (diag 4)
Then use a pen (or go heavy with pencil) to figure out the unders and overs. (diag 5)
And lastly erase/clean up (diag 6)

A few points of advice with the above,
- do not try make a band go where there is already a band crossing over another band.
- a band will always alternate between over and under when crossing other bands, so if you've gone around a large design and meet up with a previously completed area it should match. as long as each band joins up with itself

I hope that helps getting you started, and dont worry about making mistakes. Start small and then once you've completed a few then get adventurous and get bigger and more complex.

Description
Well... there are a couple of ways of doing knots, from very rigid way of drawing grids to the loose/chaotic way that I've done some. All ways are worth practicing.
For the traditional rigid formula way, I'd recommend either getting hold of a book by George Bain - 'Celtic Art - The Methods of Contruction' which is very in depth, check out decent libraries and photocopy a page or two if you cant buy it. Or go google "knotwork celtic construction method" and terms like that and there are a couple of ways that other people have figured out, which can be interesting to read/inspire you.

Or for the more chaotic/organic approach (ie not traditional), that I do goes something like this quick tutorial:
Draw a squigle of a band that joins back up to itself. (diagram 1 in quick tutorial in scraps)
A one point in the band, break it by making it into two ends (diag 2) have those wind their way around and join up again (diag 3), and repeat as necessary.
To spice things up, can do the same with a thin band (diag 4)
Then use a pen (or go heavy with pencil) to figure out the unders and overs. (diag 5)
And lastly erase/clean up (diag 6)

A few points of advice with the above,
- do not try make a band go where there is already a band crossing over another band.
- a band will always alternate between over and under when crossing other bands, so if you've gone around a large design and meet up with a previously completed area it should match. as long as each band joins up with itself

I hope that helps getting you started, and dont worry about making mistakes. Start small and then once you've completed a few then get adventurous and get bigger and more complex.