Macrame is a great craft to start for two big reasons. The first is that the tools and supplies you will need to get started are pretty basic, and so the investment in starting up this hobby is very minimal. The other big benefit is that it is very portable. Many crafts require a lot of space and set up, and require a certain block of time to complete a certain part of the project. Not so with macrame, it is very much a lap craft, and you can pretty much take it with you to work, on the bus, etc. and stop and start as you have time. Learning how to macrame requires some time to learn the basic macrame knots, and of course refining the technique of getting your knots to look uniform.basic-tools-and-requirements But with any craft, you have to invest a bit of time in the beginning to learn how to do it.
The basic tools you will need as you are learning how to macrame: a project board, scissors, pins and cord. The board is the place where you will actually do your knotting. It can be padded clipboard, cork board, a 12 inch square piece of polyurethane (sold at craft stores) or even a couple pieces of square cardboard rubber banded together will do. Basically you want a surface thick enough that you can stick pins into (and not feel the pin coming through your lap!). The pins should ideally be T pins, as you can hold thicker cord with those types, but corsage pins will work as well.
As far as cord, when you are just learning how to macrame you should start with cord that is easy to learn with. For example nylon cording is great to start with because it is easy to untie knots, so you can practice learning the basic macrame knots with it. Once you are comfortable with the techniques of knot tying, you can move on to more advanced materials such as silk cording.