2:49 Re: starting with no fill & stroke. "You don't have to do this but it's the cleanest way"... I discovered this on my own when I noticed faint but unsightly dark edges on type that was supposed to be styled all light and colorful. It was the text's default black fill. So it does have a negative effect (I consider it a software bug). Everyone should start their graphic styles from transparent. Thanks for the great tutorial!
When the stroked object is selected, in the stroke window there is an option called "limit." Try to reduce that number to prevent that spike from happening. Alternatively you can change the corner to be rounded instead of a cap. Both options are in the stroke window, click the hamburger menu to show more options if you do not see them.
