Can you YO as your first stitch?

I saw a pattern for this shawl, and the directions say the stitch pattern, each row starts with a YO, then goes into a K2tog. How can you YO as your first stitch? Is it possible that they’re assuming that your either knitting a first stitch or slipping it before doing the YO?

No, honestly and truly, you do a YO as the first stitch. This leaves you with a nice little row of decorative loops along the edge.

Bring the yarn to the front so that the right needle is resting on top of it. Then insert the needle into the first 2 stitches and knit them together bringing the yarn up and around.

If you look on this blog and scroll down to the March 27th entry, there is a picture that shows how the needle and yarn should be positioned:

Thanks–this helps LOTS!!!