Thanks for your excellent comments.
I am struggling with a bit of an illness at the moment and therefore have to spend most of my time in and around the house. Therefore I guess that for now self teaching is the only option. When back on my feet again, finding a job as a part time welder to learn the art properly sounds like a great idea.
OK back to the welding. After some practising with the (3/32") 6013 rods (well guessed ) I got the hang of keeping the right torch angle. On thin stuff, (1/16" plate) I can now make an acceptable butt joint (at 65A) and lap joint (at 75 A). T joints don't work for me on the thin stuff because the vertical piece burns away too rapidly at 75A. Using less amps just makes a complete mess on both lap and T joints.
On thicker stuff (1/4" plate) I managed to do an acceptable T joint at 90A, but it made the rod spatter a bit due to the high amps. The slag didn't come off as easy as I had hoped either.
The thing I am trying to figure out now is whether the travel speed and power settings were accurate. I tried to compare my welds to the pictures on the Miller website
http://www.millerwelds.com/education/tech_tips/stick_tips/Unfortunately I could not tell the difference between proper speed and slow travel too well. I hoped that the electrode size and amp settings would be a bit of a guideline here.
I guess determining proper speed comes from judging the weld pool when welding, but I do not really know how to do that. More suggestions on that are very welcome.