neck shaping

[spiritwolf]

hi all, am knitting my first patterned baby jumper and am nt sure how to do the neck, the pattern is from uk handknitting.com.
so far ive managed to shape the armholes and now the next part sas shape neck? lol it says next row: patt 17 sts turn and work on these stitches only
**next row patt to end .
work 8 rows dec one st at neck edge every row.9 sts continue without further shaping untill arm hole messures same as back.
does this mean to but the pattern stitches on a seperate needle and just work on them,or do have to do the whole row and just decrease stitches at the ends hmm i get confused very easy lol