My gauge is always too small

My knitting must be extra tight. If I use the size needles called for in the directions, the garment is too small. I have gone up several sizes in the needles and its still too small. When I go up to very large needles, the stitches look too loose and sloppy.
Well anyway I made the garment. Now to add to the width I plan to crochet the sides together adding a few rows of crochet. Do you think this will be okay?

i may work, but in future you may want to consider some knitting maths or some shaping. if you knit small, then consider making a size larger than you normally would and adding shaping where necassary. alternatively figure out how your gauge differs from the pattern gauge and figure out if you can cast on more stitches comfortably.

You may be using a thinner yarn that the original pattern. In which case, yes, knit a larger size so you’ll have more sts which may get you a size you can wear. You have to do a sample to figure out how many sts/inch you get with your yarn and needles, then multiply that times the number of inches you need and pick a size that’s closest to that number of sts.

If you are using the size yarn called for you need to get gauge no matter what size needles it takes to get it. But doing that shouldn’t make it look loose and sloppy.