At your stage, just find anything that motivates you to continue working, and the knowledge will naturally come. A personal project that scratches an itch for you like you mentioned is a great option. Don't worry too much about doing things the "right" way for now. Sometimes doing things the "wrong" way when you're starting out can actually work to your advantage, because when you see a pattern in the future that solves a problem more elegantly you'll have a better understanding of what makes it a good idea!