if you are just getting started in composites, you should not be working with Carbon. Carbon is the equivalent to 6oz woven cloth. 6oz cloth is about $7 per yard while carbon is about $75 per yard.
Every piece of cloth has a different strength, use and weight. The weight is the amount of resin it should absorb. Different weaves resist forces in different ways (such as impact vs sheer).
Carbon is lighter than glass. However, properly laid glass with no excess resin can be lighter than carbon with too much epoxy at a much lower cost. There is a lot more to doing a good job than pretending a piece of carbon and some epoxy are like putting paper mache on a ballon. Take some time, read some stuff, and start small. Jumping straight to carbon is a bad idea. If you have enough money to blow on improperly laid carbon, just send some my way. I'm no expert but I'll take you money as fast as the composite store.
Finally, to answer your question, just type in... anything... into google and there will be tons of info on how to work with glass.
