<p>I've been using Winforms since .NET 1.1 and I want to start learning WPF.</p>

<p>I'm looking for some good resources for a beginner in WPF. What should I read, what tools do I need, and what are the best practices I should follow?</p>

I'd recommend the book
Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed
by Adam Nathan
Then I'd recommend you write an application.  Like every other dev environment, there are no perfect guidelines.  You have to find the ones that make the most sense for your circumstance.  The only way to do that is to just start coding.
As for tools, Visual Studio 2008 [Express] is your best bet.  Or you might be able to limp along with XamlPad.