fox | thinking out loud about knitting

[update: I was poking around at Ravelry and am not even close to the first one to discover this issue with this pattern - and someone pointed out that there is a charted version as well as a written-out version, and the chart shows that the solution is to duplicate row A rather than to skip row B entirely. which is what I did. huzzah!]

so okay. one row says

row A -- es (that is, for my purposes k1), ssk, k7, yo, k1, yo, k7, k2tog, es (again: k1)

that yields, by my count, 21 stitches. 1+1+7+1+1+1+7+1+1 = 2+7+3+7+2 = 9+3+9 = 18+3 = 21.

the next thing i'm supposed to do with those 21 stitches (well, the first next thing i do is purl back the other way, but then next thing i do on the right side) is

row B -- es, k8, yo, k1, yo, k8, es

which also yields 21 stitches, right? 1+8+1+1+1+8+1 = 9+3+9 = 18+3 = 21. but how are you going to start from 21 and do two increases and still have 21 when you're through?

also: the center part, the part that goes yo, k1, yo, is supposed to be in the same place each time. so the last knit stitch before the yo is the (purl that was the) yarn over last time. the central k1 is a rib right up the middle. meaning in this row i should work 10 stitches before the first yarn over, right? look up above: es, ssk, k7, yo: 1+1+7+1 = 10. but this row is asking me to do es, k8, yo. that puts the yarn over too soon, after only 9 stitches. there aren't enough stitches in this row to use up the stitches i got at the end of the previous row. this row only requires 19 stitches because two of the 21 it yields are from yarn overs, but again, how are you going to start with 21 and add two and still have 21?

the next RS row is

row C -- es, ssk, ssk, k5, yo, k1, yo, k5, k2tog, k2tog, es

to do that in the first place requires 21 stitches. 1+2+2+5++1++5+2+2+1. and as you can see, i'm meant to do 10 of them before the first yarn over. that is, row C decreases 4 but increases 2 for a net decrease of 2; it begins with 21 stitches and ends with 19.

so row B has to be wrong, doesn't it? i can't finish row A with 21 stitches and begin row C with 21 stitches if somehow i increase two stitches in row B. my choices seem to be

row B -- es, ssk, k7, yo, k1, yo, k7, k2tog, es (that is, duplicate row A)
skip row B entirely

i went with the first option because for all i know it's important to have the number of rows specified - but is there something else i missed with this?