Joe, there are tons of sites and books that will detail projects that you can do ... but they assume you know how to drill, screw cut, bore and do all the stuff you need to complete the job. I may be wrong but I know of no source that teaches you how to do these things in order to complete the project, at least not at the level of detail that you seem to be searching for.
I have a suggestion that you might consider; its the approach I took at the beginning and continue to use today. Figure out a tool or accessory you need. Design it and then figure out what you need to build it - materials, order of operations, skills and everything that is required to make it. Then acquire those things you need, especially the skills.
In the beginning, even the simplest of projects require a wide range of skills that you may not have right now but learning them will serve you well. An example of this might be a solid, nonadjustable tool height setting gauge that sits on top of your cross slide bed or on your compound if it is flat. Just a solid chunk of metal that happens to require you to learn to turn accurately, possibly between two shoulders, with one of those shoulders at the exact centerline of your lathe spindle. My first one took me a full day to figure out what I needed and even longer to learn the skills to make it; my last one took all of 20 minutes to conceive and complete. You learn how the material you choose likes to cut, how to grind or choose the tools you need, feeds and speeds, measuring accurately and so on. Everything you do will be used time and time again, and the only way you gain this knowledge is by doing it.
Today, the learning curve has been drastically shortened by the net and YouTube but you still need to learn to use your head and your hands. Good luck - its a great ride!
