Need help with hat pattern for crochet

I have a couple of questions. The first one is about crochet in general; after creating a chain when you need to SC into a chain, what part of the chain do you go through? After you have a line of SC and in tells you to either SC or DC into a SC, what part do you go through? The V shaped SC or the chain that is created across the top?
I'm trying to do the "first hat" the in "crochet made easy" book by Red Heart. Here is the line I don't understand:

chain 1, single crochet in first single crochet in next chain 1-space, *chain 1, skip next single crochet, single crochet in next chain-1 space; repeat from * across to last single crochet; single crochet in last single crochet, turn.

Thanks in advance for anyone who can simplify this for me!