I am a self taught crocheter and I bought a magazine with a lovely pattern in that I wanted to make for a friends baby, like you I didn't know what the abbreviations meant, so I bought a book about crochet stitches which I found very easy to follow and was able to use to see what the pattern was saying
Being a knitter helped I am sure, as I read the pattern in the same way, but I don't necessarily remember the stitches so have to refer to the book a lot until I get going.
Love the crochet by the way, the colours are lovely.