Any crochet-wrights out there?

Since I’m working so hard at the writing that it’s beginning to feel like a real job – and it’s a job that involves being at the keyboard for the majority of the day – I’ve started ending the day by disengaging from the computer altogether and going to sit on the sofa. But I can’t just sit on the sofa and watch TV.

In the old days, I’d sit on the sofa with the TV on and read a book. But reading books has also begun to feel like work. It’s all words all the time. So I need something different just to have a time away from it all.

Previously, I have embroidered (crewel work), made tablet weave and nalbinding socks:

I’ve woven plain weave cloth on a small loom. I’ve tried three times to learn how to knit, and forgotten what I learned immediately after. I could probably make some embroidered cushion covers – probably of fannish stuff drawn in an Anglo-Saxon manuscript style – but I always enjoy learning something new. So this time, I thought I might try crochet, which is enough like nalbinding that I might be able to remember how to do it, but enough like knitting that you can actually make big things out of it.

Is there anyone out there knowledgeable in the ways of crochet, who could point me in the direction of a good, clear, inexpensive guide to how to start?

If I can get to the point of making scarves and blankets, that will be all I desire from a hobby designed mainly to provide the extra bit of relaxation/mental stimulation that TV alone won’t give.