Stitch Counts: Cast on a multiple of 9 plus 4?

Hello forum,

I’m confused by casting on instructions in Margaret Hubert’s Complete Photo Guide to Knitting. To wit: for her Vertical lace iii stitch on page 110 she calls for casting on a multiple of 9 + 4. Depending on what multiple of 9 i pick, however, I’ll either get an odd or an even number of stitches on the needle. Isn’t that going to screw up how I finish a row? Is it a mistake or is it there knitting concept in that calculation that I haven’t learned yet?

The lace pattern uses up 9 stitches. The number of repeats of that you do will determine the width of the scarf. Both pattern rows have an extra 4 stitches that are outside of the repeats. On Row 2, it’s K3…repeat X times…K1; on Row 4 it’s K2…repeat X times…K2. This WILL work, regardless of the total count being odd or even.

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Thank you for the clarification.

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