Question about Sizing and Patterns

Submitted by lauria on 30 November 2007 - 1:00pm. Categorized As:

+ I Need Crochet Help!

For my eight year old niece, I'm planning on making this Poncho.

My question is about the sizing. It says this:

SIZE: Child 4, Child 3-7, Child 13-14, Tween/Teen 8-16
Child 3-7 (Tween/Teen 8-16) years
2 rectangles, each 11 (13) inches [28 (33) cm] wide x 22 (25) inches [56 (63.5) cm] long
Note: Pattern is written for smallest size with changes for larger sizes in parentheses. When only one number is given, it applies to all sizes. To follow pattern more easily, circle all numbers pertaining to your size before beginning.

Okay, so it seems that the sizing written in the pattern is the Child 3-7 with the Tween/Teen 8-16 pattern in parentheses. Okay, I understand that so far...

But! I'm a little confused about the sizing in general. After the sizing it includes "years" Is that supposed to mean that I should follow the pattern depending on how old the child is? Or is that the size? I would think that it would be the size, but the "years" is throwing me a little.

How do crochet sizes match up with other sizes? Are the like department store sizes or sewing pattern sizes?

And if I went with a size that was in between the two given in the instructions, how do I figure out how many sts to use? Just take a guess?

Thanks in advance for your help! I just started crocheting a week ago and don't have any one around to help me figure this out! :)

Confusing! First they give 4 size ranges and then go down to 2 ranges. I'm guessing, but I think the 'years' is to differentiate from misses sizes, so it's a child's size 8, not a woman's size 8.

Somewhere there are standard size charts for crochet and knitting, I've read references to them, I think they are on the net, but I couldn't find them. I need a different search criteria.

Don't guess sizes, measure. Make a swatch before you alter patterns. It should be a little more than 4" x 4", double that size is better. How big do you want your poncho in inches? From your swatch, how many stitches and rows will it take?

Submitted by pauline3 on 30 November 2007 - 8:26pm.

Thanks, Pauline, that is what I was thinking after I gave it a little more thought.

This looks like a good link for a size chart: http://crochet.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=crochet&c... (in case others need the same things)

Since I'm so new at Crocheting, it's hard for me to really tell how big I wanted my poncho (that and it's a surprise Christmas present and my niece is far away), so I ended up starting the larger of the two sizes after looking at the chain for the smaller. I measured it against myself and decided that there is no way my growing eight year old niece would be able to fit her head through the estimated hole! We'll see how well my method ends up working on Christmas... Ah, the joys of trial by error! :)

Thanks, again! Now to post about my next crocheting woe (I started another two projects while waiting on an answer to this one ang got stuck on BOTH of them!)

Submitted by lauria on 30 November 2007 - 9:35pm.

Oh, GOOD link in sizing. Thanks.

Submitted by pauline3 on 1 December 2007 - 10:38am.