Help with pattern, Lost stitches? New knitter

How-to Questions
1

Hello! I’m hoping to get some help on a pattern that was supposed to be “simple”… but now that I’m into it, I’m starting to believe it’s shrinking due to a misunderstanding on my part.
Here’s the instructions:

Brooke Afghan:

Materials: #10.5 needles or size to obtain gauge, 9 ozs Worsted Weight Yarn, 7 ozs Sport Weight Yarn
Gauge: 11 sts, 16 rows = 4 inches
Size: 33 inches square

With 1 strand of worsted weight yarn and one strand of sport weight yarn, cast on 96 sts

Bottom edge: Work garter stitch (knit every row) for 7 rows
Bottom Border:
Row 8: (RS): Knit
Row 9: K5, purl to last 5 sts, k5
Row 10: k5, k2tog across row to last 5 sts, k5
Row 11: k5, [COLOR=“Orange”]*k in bar before next st, k1, repeat from *[/COLOR] to last 5 sts, k5
Row 12: Row 8
Row 13: Row 9
Row 14: Row 10
Row 15: k5, *k1, k in bar before next st, repeat from * to last 5 sts, k5
Work rows (8-15) 2 more times.
Body
Row 1: k
Row 2: k5, p to last 5 sts, k5
Row 3: k5, k2tog 7 times, k to last 19 sts, k2tog 7 times, k5
Row 4: k5, (k in bar before next st, k1) 7 times, p to last 12 sts, (k1, knit in bar before next st) 7 times, k5
Repeat rows 1-4 of Body for 21 inches or desired length minus top border and edge.

Repeat bottom border and bottom edge.

Copyright © 2005, 2006 Ann V. Gallentine

I went to JoAnns and asked a lady there if she could explain Row 11, “k in bar” instructions, and she suggested a YO.

I believe I started with 115 on, shoulda done an extra to make it even but too late to fix that now. so if you take 10 off for the initial and end k5’s in each step that’s 105. The decrease in ROW 10 took me down to 52? so I st 6 instead of 5 at the end…
then I attempted ROW 11: k5, did a YO according to this sites video. then k1, then YO until I got to my 5 or 6 st at the end. ROW 12 took me back to knitting all the way across, and now I only have 89 stitches on my needles…

How did I mess this up? what should I do?

and suggestions are greatly appreciated, I have been working on this project for a couple hours now (I’m slow and new at this) and I’m kinda bumming that I messed it up. I really don’t want to start over and settle for something apparently more simple than simple…

Thanks,

Kelly

2

The ‘knit in bar’ isn’t a yarnover, but it is an increase. It’s another way of saying to do a M1, which is lift the strand (bar) between sts and knit it through the back loop so it doesn’t make a hole. They should put back the decreases you did in Row 10 and give you the same number of sts you started with.

3

Well the picture of the pattern shows holes in the blanket…
and I don’t know how to go back without unraveling the whole thing, is there anything else i can do?

4

5

Hmmm, well there does seem to be holes in borders at least, not so sure about the center part. But in any case, you won’t decrease the number of sts except on the k2tog rows and then they get increased on the next row. Why don’t you just continue on and see how it goes.

You should have started with an even number of sts, like 114 or 115, that’s why you ended up with k6 instead of k5 on the end, but that’s okay. On row 11 you should be doing yo k1, yo k1, and it looks like you did yo k2, yo k2 - that’s why you only have 89 sts. You don’t have to rip it all out to fix this. At the end of the row you just did, gently pull out each stitch one by one and put the loose stitch back on the needle, a smaller one helps for this. When you get to the beg of the row, turn and repeat for that row too. Now you can start over and do the row as yo k1, yo k1.

If you’re not sure how to take the sts out, you can look on You Tube for ‘tinking’ or on the Tips page here under Fixing Mistakes, the reinserting your needle video should help.

6

Thank you very much! I will try to do that and hopefully let you know how that goes, I do think I was a little confused on which I was doing when I was attempting the yo section, so Ill pay more attention on this round around.