Ok, I know it may be answered somewhere in here but I am very new to decorating and I am always getting crumbs in my icing how do you get the icing so smooth without crumbs in it?

Well it helps if you do what is called a crumbcoat first.By this you roughly cover the entire cake with a thin coat of icing first and let it set up..Then go over it with a thicker final layer and smooth...Also some cake recipes are more crumby than others so you may consider looking at your recipe you are using as well..

You put a lot of BC on, spread it without lifting your knife or letting it directly touch the cake, and scrape off the excess. If you remove too much and the cake shows through, add more to that area and scrape again.

Always crumb coat.

I do it one of two ways- both addressed here alrady.

I either crumb coat- especially chocolate cakes- I find them to be the most problematic crumbers!
or I use the smooth side of a Jumbo cake icing tip (I've also heard it called an eclair tip)- Wilton #789. The tip allows you to get a thick layer of icing on the cake without moving icing accross the cake (which causes the crumbs). Then you just smooth out the ridges with your spatula. I also use the icing tip to get a layer of icing on shaped & scultpted cakes that can be more difficult to navigate with a spatula.

I use the large icer tip (looks like a large basket weave tip, smooth on oneside, ridges on the other)

I use that to put a layer of icing all the way around the cake, then i take my spatula and smooth it together a little. Once my BC has crusted then i use the melvira method to finish smoothing it out and get any spatula lines out of it.

Using the icer tip allows you to get an even coat all the way around the cake without "pulling" the icing around, which in turn can pull up crumbs with the icing.

You tube has some good tutorials/video's.... I tend to learn new techniques better and more quickly when I can see it being done, as opposed to reading a 'how to' lesson.
There are some pretty incredible DVD's on the market too, I'm not sure of any off hand, but if you do a quick search for either Sharon Zambito or Jennifer Dontz, I'll bet they both have DVD's that will help you perfect your technique.
The best thing I ever did for myself was spend a little extra money on a couple DVD's.... it was a splurge for me, but there's a lot to be said for building some self confidence!! ~~

Thanks for the replies