What does a total beginner need to start crocheting?

[fuzzpig]

Probably the wrong place but it would be an Xmas present :o

A nice present would be a couple of hooks - say 4mm, 5mm and 6mm - and a couple of balls of yarn. DK weight is most commonly available cheaply in a range of colours. Aran weight (bit chunkier) is also common and a bit easy to work with for beginners.

I self taught from the internet, mainly YouTube. But this book is also good www.amazon.co.uk/Compendium-Crochet-Techniques-Jan-Eaton/dp/1844484017/ref=sr_1_59?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385335507&sr=1-59&keywords=Crochet

Or a beginners project book of some kind.

Book looks great! Am I being really dense, is crochet yarn the same as knitting wool or is it different thickness?

Stitch markers would be good and maybe a little bag to carry projects around in. Also as PP says hooks, yarn & a good book of techniques. I managed to get one in The Works for £5 on Thursday. Think it was called How to Crochet, it's a great book with easy to understand instructions.

Same wool! And tell them about the Attic 24 website.. Really good for beginners

You use the same yarn as knitting.
My local wool shop organises lessons. Maybe a lesson would be nice? Drove myself potty trying to learn independently. (Could be just me though!)

Is there anywhere you can get smaller amounts of wool in lots of colours rather than a ball of each (which would work out quite expensive) IYSWIM?

I should say, this is actually for me :o my parents hate choosing presents so give money - which is lovely obviously, just think it'd be nice to have something to open on the day if that makes sense. But don't really want to sink too much ££ into it as I might be rubbish. I can get books from the library so might not buy yet, although any more particular recommendations would be lovely!

I didn't even know there were different sizes of hooks!

You can get basic yarn for less than a £1 a skein (posh word for ball). So you can still get a few colours to start with for not too much. In fact £10 would get you far. My favourite online shop is Deramores. And the cheap stuff is fine quality for blankets and basic projects. I've used posher stuff for specific projects but love my colourful collection of cheap DK weight acrylics.

Just to warn you I found crochet had a learning curve of 'this is impossible... I have no idea what I'm doing.... I hate this.... Aahhhh eureka I've got it I can do anything!'

So once you've got it it's amazing but you may have a few tears to get to that point.

ravelry, Pinterest and YouTube are all great sources of patterns and help.

If it's for you have a look at the Attic 24 website (I'm not from there honest, it's just a great website that I used when learning to crochet. It's well used with crocheters). If you like the colours then you can buy a pack of "Lucy colours" from a couple of websites. The wool is called Stylecraft special DK (double knitting). Think it is a pack of 20 colours and I think it might be on Deramores. Deramores usually has a code too.