Dixie, did you say there was a Michael's craft store near you, or not?
For some easy starter projects, you might try getting a book of patterns of dishcloths, and start with that. Buy yourself a few balls of cotton yarn in different colors, or one big cone, maybe in Christmas colors if you like that, and have fun learning. Cotton yarn is very inexpensive, it's fun to use, and hand-knit or crocheted dishcloths make fun little presents to give. You can experiment with different patterns very quickly and easily.
As others have pointed out, knitting involves two needles; you work the stitches from one needle on to the other. That's why it can be tricky to correct mistakes; you can't just rip it all out, you have to carefully undo the stitches and move them back to the other needle until you get to the mistake, and then start over.
Your project goes back and forth between the two needles, and always remains on one of them while you are working on it. (In other words, when you put it aside before you're finished, you cannot use that pair of needles for anything else, and you have to store it in such a way that the stitches won't slide off the needle.)
Crochet involves using a hook and bringing the yarn through the loops on the hook. You make it "in the air," so to speak. You have one loop on the hook at all times, but that's it. You can put the project down, pull up the last loop, set the work aside, and use that same hook on another project if you want.
If you make a mistake, you just pull the yarn, which will undo all the stitches, back to the point of the mistake, and then proceed again.
The whole process of crochet is much, much faster than knitting.
You may see references to Continental style knitting. That refers to a different way of holding the needles; it is faster than the American method, but some people find it awkward. Others instantly take to it and find the American method of "throwing" the yarn very tedious. It's good to try both methods and see which one suits you.
Michael's I think has classes from time to time. If you have an independent yarn store near you, you may find that they offer classes or a weekly "stitch 'n' bitch" session or other get-togethers where you can learn.
It's possible to learn from a book, but if possible, it's better to have a real live person show you how to do it.
That said, if you look for "beginning knitting" or "beginning crochet" on Youtube, you will find a lot of tutorials there, too.
Incidentally, don't even think twice about not knowing how to sew. I hate sewing, myself, love crochet, and like knitting. Athough sometimes you do have to sew seams together for a knit or crocheted project, in general the skills of sewing vs. knitting or crocheting are just a whole different thing.