What do you do if your pattern calls for more stitches than you have on your needles? For example I have a pattern that says cast on 49 stitches - so I do. Then it says to do a certain number of stitches from a few different charts, which altogether comes out to equal 49 stitches, BUT two of those stitches are k2tog. So every time I end up with the pattern asking me to do more stitches than I have on my needles. HELP! Is there something I’m missing here? Is there something I’m doing wrong? What do I do in this situation?
Stitch number dilemma!
When you count the sts on the chart, the YOs don’t use a stitch, so they’re not there until you’re done with the row, by which time the k2togs will be reduced to one stitch. So your chart is probably right; the boxes aren’t really sts, they indicate an action to take. A dec takes 2 or 3 sts down to 1 st but there’s only one box shown, and a yo doesn’t use a stitch from what you already have, it just adds it between other stitches.
If you want to check stitch count, don’t count the number of boxes on the charts. Look at the number of sts required for each of the steps specified in the boxes. A k2tog requires 2sts, an increase in one st requires just one st, etc. That number should match up to the number of sts you have on the needle before you start the chart.