I am trying my first top-down sweater called Picovoli from MagKnits. The gauge calls for 22 sts/4 inches on a size 4 round needle. I don't have a size 4 round needle and would like to use my new Denise needles in a size 5 to try it out. I knit up a small swatch and got about 17 stitches to 4 inches on the size 5, so about 1 inch larger than gauge with the 4s. The pattern calls for a cotten blend or cotton yarn and I am just going to try in an acrylic, as this is mostly for practice. My question is, will using my size 5s come out fairly close to gauge if I just knit the sweater one size smaller than my size would call for? As in, I would normally wear/make a size 36 and I am wondering if I knit the size 32 to compensate for the larger needle if it would come out about right?

Any tips on how to figure out how to compensate for different yarns or needle sizes is very welcome to this novice knitter! Thank you!

I really want to try these two patterns. The first one has a chart/diagram for the lace pattern. I have no idea how to interpret it. Can someone please interpret it for me and tell me what it means? I would SO appreciate it. The pattern is here:
http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/vi..._id=15&lang=us

The second one is here:
http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/vi..._id=35&lang=en

This is in British and I don't know the difference between the British and English to tell what I need to change. Does dtr (double treble crochet?) in British English mean treble crochet in U.S. English? I would really like to try this, but would like to maybe use half double crochet instead of triple to make it warmer, which would make shorter rows, right? So how exactly would I do that and still have the pattern size and shaping come out properly? Is it as simple as adding rows? I've only ever tried one garment in crochet before, so this is new to me, but I really want to try these. Please help! Thank you!!