Help deciphering a pattern

#1

I’m a basic knitter and I purchased a pattern today for a layette afgan that looked like something I could handle. However, I’ve run into a problem with the pattern already. Following the pattern I have 163 stitches on my needle after 3 rows the pattern reads:

ROW 4: K2, P2, K2: * P4, P2 tog tbl, YO, P1, increase, P1, YO, P2 tog, P4, K2; repeat from * across until last 4 stitches, P2, K2: 172 stitches.

I’m having problems figuring out the “increase” above. The only type of increase they refer to in the instructions is a YO, so I’m not sure if the “increase” should just be another YO or something else. I’ve worked this row several times using a YO but I keep ending up with the wrong number of stitches.

Any tips? The pattern is called Lilac Loveliness ing the book Our Best Knit Baby Afghans published by Leisure Arts.

Thanks!

#2

The increase should probably be a m1 or pfb, the YO in this pattern is to make holes for the lace and they’re offset by the decreases. I think it should be a pfb since you inc by 9 st so the pattern is repeated 9 times. There are 10 sts not repeated at the beginning and end, so the pat rpt is over 153 sts and dividing that by 9 is 17 so that’s how many sts each repeat uses. There are 16 sts in - p2, p2togtbl, p, p, p2tog, p4, k2 - so the increase has to use a stitch which would make it pfb. The YOs don’t use a stitch, they just add a new one between two others.

#3

Thanks so much!