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Not completely sure if you find everything in the same place since I use CS2 myself nowadays.
Draw an object and make a gradient with spot colours. With the object selected click Effect > Pixelate > Color Halftone. To apply just a halftone pattern click Effect > Sketch > Halftone Pattern.
halftones are generated from a gradient or shade of a color. As far as the dot patterns and shape you normally specify this during the print through a rip or to a post script printer.
Half-tones are done with a RIP (Raster Image Processor). There are a few on the market and most are "pricey" but you get what you pay for. Do a forum search for "RIP software" and "Halftone Separations" there are other threads about this.
to create your halftones in illy, use the color slider. select your object, fill it with a spot color and then use the slider in the color pallet to designate the percentage of the halftone.
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"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." Groucho Marx
im with richard. i do my half tones in the printing process to make sure they look the same as they did on the screen... much better accuracy when it hits the shirt.
to create your halftones in illy, use the color slider. select your object, fill it with a spot color and then use the slider in the color pallet to designate the percentage of the halftone.
I thought there was a way to do it without the big expesive rip,
i use an epson stylus printer and it would be complete nonsense to me
to not be able to make a bunch of dots, lol.
Thanks guys
The quote is talking about a "halftone" meaning a "tint" or a "percentage" or "tone" all those terms get thrown around in the printing industry and get interchanged and waters down their true definitions.
Your epson is an ink-jet printer and when you look at what you print with a loupe it will be like a bunch of little dashes of color very close an kinda randomly patterned NOT what It seems like you are looking for, which is a halftone "screen". Where there is a set pattern and the resolution of the graphic is converted into a given "line screen" or how big the dots will be. In 4-color process printing each is set to a different angle so the dots can be overlayed without creating a pattern. What we call "Raster-Dots" at my work, or the output from a RIP. You can get close by using a copy machine if you are only doing one color, because a black toner based copy machine or laser printer has an internal RIP that will put a screen on the output that can work for exposing your stencil. Just remember that you can't but 2 colors on top of eachother unless the dots are at different angles though.
I hope that helps clarify but you would have seen all this eventually when you started printing things out anyway.
Illustrator 9.01 help 
