don't know what it means to 'keep stitches on left hand needle' in pattern

[ewelaughing]

hi! I could really use some help translating this pattern I'm working on. The instruction is for a vine lace hat, and the specific round is, 'knit 3, k2tog, yo, k2tog leaving stitches on left hand needle, k into first stitch again then drop both stitches from left hand needle...' then the pattern continues from there. Could somebody PLEASE tell me what they mean by 'keep stitches on left hand needle, knit into first stitch again then drop...'. I've tried every possible way I could think of but every effort leads to unraveling of stitches.... huge frustration and no explination! Thank you so much!!! Ewe

[Becky Morgan]

Grab a piece of waste yarn and cast on a few stitches so you can try it. This makes a two-stitch cable or a twist or whatever you want to call it.
Put the needle into the stitches as you would to k2tog. Pull the loop through, but DON'T DROP THE STITCHES OFF THE LEFT NEEDLE--you now have a live stitch on the right needle and two sitting there on the left.
Now stick the tip of your needle through just the stitch closest to you and knit it normally. Both stitches will come off the needle then, and you'll have two stitches on your right, one twisted over the other.
There's probably a video of this somewhere. It's a neat little stitch.

[suzeeq]

K2tog, but leave them on the L needle and knit into the first st only. Then you're done with those sts and they can come off the L needle (the drop part) the same way regular sts are taken off the L needle when you've knit into them.