I have spent several hours trying to figure out what to do after I create the first basic "foundation chain," and this book is not very helpful for that. I found several explanations online that made more sense and went into more detail. The notation and terminology in this book is unclear for someone who has never crocheted before...the author uses "stitch" and "chain" interchangeably, for example.I think you could find better free guides online if you are a true novice. This book does has some nice patterns and examples, but you won't be able to get that far if you can't understand the very basic techniques.