HELP!! With stock levels

[surfshopuk]

Hi im new to this and really confused.

Basically i have a shop selling clothes so i have a section like womens clothes with a product in that eg jeans then the attribute is size then the choice is 8, 10, 12 or 14 so it looks a bit like this

womens clothes
jeans
size
8
10
12
14

this all works fine but what im stuck on is setting stock levels to each one of these sizes and not just the whole product.

For instance i may only have 2 size 8's and 1 size 10 3 in all and this i have added to stock monitoring section however actinic is allowing my customers to purchase 3 size 8's but i havent got 3 to give!!!!!!!!!!!

Really confused i have read somewhere about having to hide them and associate them with product, but that confused me even more.
So was wondering if any one out there would be kind enough to message back a step by step easy way to solve this.

Thanks
Hope i get a reply cause this is driving me nuts!!!!

[TraceyHand]

failing that, tbh, the help files

try "associated products" and "permutations" for a start in forum searches.
It has been detailed before, even step by step (and often by me) so I'm sure a forum search will find a relevent post (I don't have time to post it all again!)

[TraceyHand]

As someone said to me earlier, PLEASE do a search on the forum.

someone told YOU to search, Edward? That's shocking!