Help with afghan pattern please

Pattern Central
1

Hello - I’m hoping someone can help me figure out my pattern. The pattern is called Orchid Lace from the book 7-Day Afghans (Revised - 2004) by Leinhauser and Weiss on page 17. The directions are as follows:

CO 143 sts

Pattern:
R1 K
R2 P
R3 * (P2 tog) twice; (inc 1, K1) 3 times [to inc, pick up horizontal bar before next st]; inc 1, (P2 tog) twice; rep from * across
R4 P
Repeat pattern until afghan measures 54"

I’m new to knitting (just over a month) and have kept my “A to Z of Knitting” book, a pencil, and tablet next to me while I’ve tried to figure this out for the past few hours.

I believe my problem is twofold:

  1. One complete R3 needs 144 sts (9 iterations for one R3), not 143
  2. One iteration of R3 uses 16 sts which turns into 17sts so I’m gaining a st each time I complete an iteration (9 sts gained per R3).

Any help would be greatly appreciated before I drive my husband crazy!

2

hmmm… It looks to me like it should come out right. There are 2 decreases at the beginning:
(P2tog twice);

then you increase 4 times total;
(inc 1, K1) 3 times [to inc, pick up horizontal bar before next st]; inc 1,

then decrease 2 more stitches:

(P2tog) twice.

Since there are the same number of increases and decreases, it should work out to the same # of stitches (they cancel each other out, so to speak).

Does that make sense? I hope that helps! Good luck :thumbsup:

3

Ahhhhh…I was reading the pattern incorrectly.

I was knitting: P2tog, P2tog, inc1, K1, inc1, K1, inc1, K1, inc1, P2tog, inc1, P2tog

I should be knitting: P2tog, P2tog, inc1, K1, inc1, K1, inc1, K1, inc1, P2tog, P2tog

So one iteration of R3 uses 15 sts.

I guess I’ll co 150 sts (vice the pattern’s stated 143 sts) so R3 can end with the last “P2tog twice” and end the row with a full pattern.

Thanks so much!