Cotton Cord, Not the Poly Stuff, and Here's Why
Before you buy anything, let's talk about cord, because this is the one place I see people get talked into the wrong thing at the store.
You'll see two kinds on the shelf. Cotton, usually 3mm or 4mm, and then the synthetic stuff, sometimes labeled poly or nylon cord, sometimes just "macrame cord" with no other detail. They're often sitting right next to each other, about the same price. The synthetic one looks a little shinier, a little more finished. Don't grab that one.
Cotton cord, not the poly stuff. Here's why.
The problem with synthetic
The poly cord is slippery. That's the whole issue. Macrame is just knots holding tension against each other, row after row, and if the fiber itself is slick, your knots slide around while you're working and then keep sliding after you think you're done. You'll tie a nice row, move on to the next one, and look back to find the first row's gone loose and crooked.
It also squeaks. You wouldn't think that matters, but you're going to be sitting there for a couple hours at a stretch, and a squeaky cord rubbing against itself gets old fast.
Cotton holds. It's got a little bit of grip to it, a little texture, so your knots stay where you put them. It's more forgiving if your tension isn't perfect yet, which it won't be, because you're new at this. Costs about the same as the synthetic, so there's no real trade-off here. Just get the cotton.
What to actually buy
Look for cotton cord, 3-strand twist, in the 4mm or 5mm range for a first wall hanging. Thinner cord means more knots to fill the same space, which is more work and more places to mess up early on. A little thicker cord ties up faster and the mistakes are easier to see and fix while you're learning.
Get a natural or off-white color for your first one. Not because color doesn't matter, that's really Deborah's department and not mine, but because you want to be able to see your knots clearly while you're learning them. Dark cord hides your work from yourself.
How much to buy
This is where I'll tell you something and then immediately tell you not to do the thing that feels smart.
Everybody wants to sit down and cut all their cord first. It feels productive, like you're getting ahead. Don't. Cut one strand, tie a full row with it, see how much you actually used, and then cut the rest to match. I learned this one the hard way. Cut a whole project's worth of cord once, measured wrong, came up eight inches short on every single strand. Had to start completely over. Now I cut one, tie one full row, and only then cut the rest. Measure twice, but really I mean cut once and check your work before you commit to the pile.
For a standard-size wall hanging, plan on your strands being roughly four times the finished length you want, and a little extra past that for fringe if you're doing fringe. We'll go through the actual math together next class when we're standing at the dowel, but that's the rough idea for now.
A note on where you'll be doing this
You don't need much space. A card table works fine, or your kitchen counter if you clear it off. What you do need is somewhere you can hang the dowel up while you work, at roughly eye level, because macrame is easier when gravity's helping you and you can see what you're actually making instead of a pile of cord in your lap.
I did a whole project once for a ward Relief Society thing, no calling, nobody asked me to, Deborah told me flat out I didn't have to do it. I did it anyway, up late a few nights hanging it off a closet door frame because that's what I had. Worked fine. My back complained about it for a solid day afterward, which she was quick to point out. The point is you don't need a fancy setup. You need a hook, a dowel, and somewhere to stand back from it every so often.
Before next time
Pick up a package of cotton cord, 4mm, natural color, before we meet again. If the store's got 3-strand twist and something else, get the twist. And don't cut anything yet. We'll cut together the first time so you see how it's done before you're on your own with the scissors.