Elegantly Simple Baby blanket

[Mimi2]

Hi I'm Mimi and I'm totally stumped. I completed this baby blanket last year and it came out beautiful but for some reason the instructions are drawing a total blank.
Row 1 reads..sl1 wyif,* 3\, (yo,,k1) 5times, yo, /3, p2, rep from* substituting a k1 for the p in the last repeat.
As many times as I have tried I just keep decreasing and end the row with less stitches, of course because I'm decreasing 3 (actually 2 but only adding 1, (5 times)
How did I ever figure this out before?

[salmonmac]

I assume the /3 or 3\ is k3tog so with the yo you're decreasing 1 each repeat. Does row 2 or a subsequent pattern row compensate for the decreases?