What do you need

You'll need a hook, and some kind of material.

There are a LOT of hooks available.
Click here for pictures of various crochet hooks
The size of the hook will need to be appropriate to the size of the material you plan to crochet with.  If you're going to crochet strips of fabric, you'll want a big wood or plastic hook about a foot long:

If you're working with thread, you'll want an itty bitty steel hook like the ones on the bottom here:

For yarn, you'll usually use a medium sized steel hook, and they usually come in various (completely meaningless) colors:

The stitches are exactly the same no matter what material or what size hook.  But the videos and pictures I've chosen are all using standard yarn-size hooks.  A "G" hook is very common, though as a beginner you might be more comfortable starting with a larger hook, like a J or K.

The size of the hook will be on the pad - the flat part of the shank. 

These are the official names of the parts:

For yarn, I suggest a 4-ply worsted weight yarn.  This is the standard yarn you think of when you think of yarn.

I strongly recommend you get TWO skeins of yarn (a skein is a bundle). When you work with the same piece of yarn multiple times it starts to fall apart. So get one skein for you to do all of your practicing with, and a second one for your "real" work when you're ready. Don't get anything with special textures. You want everything to be easy to see and identify.  Once you've had more practice you can get other materials and textures.

Ready?  Let's go!

Lesson 2