I am an amateur when it comes to crocheting. I was making some simple king's crowns for my kids and myself of course. I had planned on making changes to the pattern to adjust for the different sizes however my inconsistency with my stitch sizes made it so that was not a problem.
I was following the same pattern without adjusting for size. I ended up with Goldilocks problem as the first one I made too loose and it fit my head. To compensate I made my stitches tighter on my next one. The end result was small enough to fit my 3 year old's head. I then compensated and made one that was in the middle of the two.
Since I made 3 of the same thing I got a decent gauge of what I was doing but if I was making something from a pattern with no concrete concept of the end result I worry that I will make it too tight or too loose.
Are there any general tips in this regard? At a minimum I will assume it is a matter of experience but perhaps there is more to it. Most of the things I do will be in the size range or 4.5 to 6 if it matters.