It is like a sock, it looks smaller when it is off but when you put your arm in it is stretches out, so it also will get shorter than when you don't have it on. I made a black pair that I made so the go clear up almost to my arm pit. the holes allow them to expand, so keep trying them on the get the right length, it can look like they would fit up over your elbow but in reality when you put them on they might only come up eight inches on the arm. The nice thing is that you are crocheting from the top of the arm down to the wrist. so the finger thing is the last thing so you can keep trying them on and keep adding on. I used safety pins to mark the amount of rows I had done and pinned every 10 rows, and left the pins in (and then you don't have to recount every time). that way when I made the matching gauntlet I made sure it was the right length. sometimes I crochet tighter than others. I crocheted a shorter pair and (just above the elbow) and that was 51 rows before adding the work that goes to the finger chain....but I am also a bigger girl. Also I started with a chain of 60, you might want to work a chain and add a couple of rows to see how it fits you.......and then go from there, also the yarn I used was nylon lurex wihch is stretcher than a cotton......

Did you use one of the patterns linked, or wing it? I need something for that upper are flab, and I do crochet.