Sizes

Ever since I started making hat, mitten & scarf sets for my crochet guild a few years ago, I have really struggled with sizes. Some of the patterns I have found on the Internet don't include gauge, so I'm not sure if the item is coming out the size intended. I don't have children, so children's sizes in particular are problematic for me. I know that when we knit and crochet for charity, there is a person out there for every item we make. But when I put individual items into sets, and all the pieces need to fit that person, then size does become more important.

So I had done some research and come up with hat and mitten sizes that I am happy about. (The Craft Yarn Council's Standard Body Measurements was a big help, although it didn't answer all my questions.) I really wasn't sure about scarf sizes, though, until Dee put up a really useful post a few weeks ago suggesting that we use the growth charts that doctors use and make scarves that are the same length as the height of an average child at whatever age. (Thank you, Dee!) This weekend, I finally had time to print out the growth charts, figure out the average heights, and then compare them to the estimates I had made a while back. The scarf lengths were definitely out of whack, so I have revised them. Anyway, here is what I have so far:

Toddler, ages 2-4
Hats - 16"-17" circumference, 6.5" long (w/o brim)
Mittens - 4 1/2" palm width, 3 1/2" hand length
Scarves - 36" long

Small children, ages 5-8
Hats - 18" circumference, 7" long (w/o brim)
Mittens - 5 1/2" palm width, 4 1/2" hand length
Scarves - 45" long

Medium children, ages 9-13
Hats - 19" circumference, 7" long (w/o brim)
Mittens - 6 1/2" palm width, 5" hand length
Scarves - 55" long

Women
Hats - 20" - 22" circumference, 7 1/2" long (w/o brim)
Mittens - 7" - 8" palm width, 6" - 6 1/2" hand length
Scarves - 60" long

Men
Hats - 22" circumference, 8" long (w/o brim)
Mittens - 8" - 9" palm width, 6 1/2" - 7" hand length
Scarves - 60" long

I took the median height in each age bracket and used that for scarf size, just to simplify this a bit for my brain. Anway, I put this up partly for myself, to organize my thoughts, partly because I thought this might be useful for others doing charity work, and partly to see if any of you who are more experience than I am agree with the numbers or would like to tweak them. Please feel free to let me know what you think!