Pattern Question. Please Help a Newbie!

[ramblingwebgirl]

Hello. I'm new here. I just wanted to start by saying that this site is such an amazing resource and as a newbie knitter I'm forever grateful that it exists.

Here's my dilema.

I saw the most adorable cardigan at my LYS yesterday so I bought the pattern and all the yarn I needed to whip up my own version. Unfortunately, I'm having serious trouble understanding the pattern.

There is a snippet of the pattern below. The red marks indicate where I'm having problems.

Dec one st at end of next and foll alt row ... 11 (13-14-16) sts.

According to the pattern book foll = following so I assume I'm supposed to Dec one stitch every alternate row, but what does ...11 sts mean? I read it as meaning that I'm supposed to decrease a total of 11 sts, but this means that if I'm doing it every alternate row that I'd knit 22 rows - which I did and now my sweater is like 5 feet long! Please tell me I read the pattern wrong, because the cute cardigan at the shop was only waist length and mine is approaching knee length!!

Cast off rem 6 (8-8-10) sts.
Divide for BACK:
Shape Armholes:
Next Row: Cast off 2 sts, P24 (28-30-34), turn

I get the cast off part. The next part I'm stuck on is Divide for BACK:. Am I supposed to fold the piece in half vertically or something? Also, if I've already casted off all my sts how do I cast off an additional 2 sts and where to the 24 sts come from that I'm supposed to P?

I'm so confused.

Below is a picture of what my piece looks like so far, mind you it's about 5 feet long and 2 feet across.

I see a lot of frogging in my future. Please help :(