I think that by writing it all out I've cracked it! I think that I was trying to go back to working the border and patt as set by going back to row 1 of the pattern. Obviously that would mean that my ribbing would be out in the final piece.
I hope I can convey what I think is going on. I've continued to count the rows by the side of the 6 rows that make up the border and pattern so that it remains continuous. I've used dots to separate out the rows a bit and I've put the buttonhole rows into the pattern in bold. I think this is where I was thinking of it wrongly before, i wasn't continuing the pattern, I was starting again from row 1. In this way, the confusing part about "work border and patt as set for 7 rows ending on row 4 of patt" makes sense.
Row 1 - cast on 30
Row 2-4 garter
Row 5 - buttonhole
Row 6-8 garter
Border and Pattern:
Row 09 - K............15...21...27...
33...39...45...51
Row 10 - P, K7.......16...22...28...34...40...46...52
Row 11 - K............17...23...29...35...41...
47...53
Row 12 - P, K7.......18...24...30...36...42...48...54
Row 13 - K (rib).....
19...25...31...37...43...49
Row 14 - K (rib)......20...26...32...38...44...50
Any opinions appreciated. It seems that the spacing between the button holes increases slightly, but I don't have to modify the pattern at all now
