As a mature male myself (at least in terms of age
) it took me a year of elapsed time, but only about 3 months of knit-time to get to the sock stage.
If you're reasonably dexterous you'll have no trouble at all, just get some chunky yarn, big needles and a book or YouTube channel, and progress from there.
I learned (self-taught) last winter in November and December, and started again this November. This is the book I used to learn at first:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stitch-Bitch-Knitters-Instructions-Generation/dp/0761128182In retrospect it's not great, but it gave me a starting point, a bit of confidence and some definied projects. Now I'd advise using YouTube for the learning part - there are some fanatstic teachers on there with really clear instructions and videos. VeryPink Knits is probably the one I use most:
https://www.youtube.com/user/verypinkknitsAnd Ravelry for patterns and support:
https://www.ravelry.com/I found the most intimidating things at first to be the patterns, the cryptic annotations (that don't seem to be completely standardised), and the yarn terminology, which again isn't completely standardised. Magic loop is baffling so I use double-pointed needles for stuff in the round (don't worry if that makes no sense, it will).
Agree with pharnorth about starting with a scarf - mine was a garter stitch scarf which was basically just a single stitch (knit) from top to bottom, and also taught joining yarn together.
My technique makes seasoned knitters wince, but it works for me.
I still have to look up how to do some of the stitches, and working with the 4-ply wool has been challenging at times. It's all good though - it means I can sit in front of the TV in the evening and be productive.
You can find me and some of my projects on Ravelry here:
https://www.ravelry.com/people/dieselsdadWould be interested if any other TAS bods are on there, would be good to hook up.
HTH!