Help with yarn forward

[angeluc58]

I know this sounds simple, but I have tried this pattern at least 15 times and I always end up short stitches. My question is this...in the pattern p1, p2tog, p5, yf, (k1, yf, p5, p3tog, p5, yf) twice, k1, yf, p5, p2tog, p1....the yf has me stumped. When I p5 the yarn is already forward *shrug*, so what do they mean? I start out with 45 stitches in purl...then the next row is the above pattern and when I'm done I am always 3 stitches short. Please help...I really love this project and I'm stumped.