My knitting seems to have gone transdimensional - Help!

[teigrprincess]

Hi,

I'm new to this website, and I apologise for just jumping in with my problem, but this is really confusing me.

I'm trying to make a blanket poncho according to a pattern from a magazine and while I'm following the pattern exactly, all it's doing is decreasing the number of stitches - I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong...

This is the pattern I'm following:

1- (RS) k1, (yfwd,skpo) to last st, k1
2 - k1, (yrn, p2tog) to last st, k1
3 - Rep last two rows seven times more and row 1 once more.

I started with exactly 226 stitches and now I have 30-ish. This is done on circular needles and is a british pattern.

HELP! This is the first time I have done something this big and the first time I have used circular needles...

[salmonmac]

Hi and welcome! These rows aren't supposed to decrease. They shoulf maintain the number of sts on the needle. The yfwd is a yarn forward which will result in a yarn over and an extra stitch. That will make up for the st lost in the skpo. The same is true for the yrn where you bring the yarn to the front between the needles and then around over the right needle and to the front again for the p2tog. Again the yrn will add a loop over the needle, a stitch, which will make up for the st lost in the p2tog. Take a look at these terms on the Glossary page if you want to check on how-to.

[suzeeq]

The yfwd and yrn are YOs and you wrap the yarn around the needle, then do the ssk/skpo/p2tog decrease.