WELL, missies, I can help y'all out. Sewing and crocheting are both easy peasy lemon squeezie as long as you go slow and read the directions well. (I do not knit, so I cannot comment on that.) I can sew just about anything, but I generally only sew decorating stuff these days (curtains and the like). Walmart or Hobby Lobby or Michael's should have sewing machines for you to look at. I use my mother's Singer which is older than I am.
I did a quick check on Amazon, and they have a good basic Singer (8 different stitches) for under $80. I personally would stick with Singer because they are so reputable, but I'm sure others would be good as well.
Crocheting is SOOOO easy. You just have to learn half a dozen different little stitches, and then pretty much every other garment is made by combining hundreds of those different stitches into a scarf or hat or afghan or whatever. Again, the same three stores will have needles and yarn (but trust me - Michael's and Hobby Lobby have WAY YONDER better selection than Walmart in this area). There's some GREAT crochet sites out there; my favorite is ravelry.com. They have THOUSANDS of free patterns (and just as many that you can buy), and you can download them and get started right away. I have made some very chic scarves and fingerless gloves in the past few months by some of those patterns. They have patterns for men, women, kids, babies, home decor, you name it. Oh, and they have some FANTASTIC yarns available these days...colors and textures galore, and many of them washable without shrinking. One other GREAT resource for crocheting (and learning how to) is YouTube. Just do a search and you'll get more videos than you can shake a stick at, and they are very good.
PM me if you have any other questions.