How to get the correct number of stitches

[Mel30]

Hi, I’m new to crochet and am trying the attached pattern. No matter what I do I can’t seem to come up at 115 stitches in round 21. There are no stitch counts given for the previous rows! Maybe if someone could fill in some of the intermediate rows it would help. How many stitches should there be after rounds 3, 4, 5?  Does the slip stitch count as a stitch. I think not (based on rounds 22 and 23 that aren’t shown here). 

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

When working in the round like this, 'slst to join' doesn't count as a stitch, because what follows is a stitch that 'sprouts out' of the slip stitch--in your case, a chain 1+ SC.  For SC, the chain 1 is to raise the yarn up to the level of the next round & doesn't count as a stitch.  For taller stitches, the turning/level raising chains typically count as a stitch.

The bad news is there is a lot of math required in crochet.  The good news is that it's elementary school level stuff for the most part, including this pattern.

Rnd 1 ends with 5 sts.

Rnd 2=10 sts total (2 sts into each of the prior rnd's sts)

Rnd 3=20 sts total (ditto)

Rnd 4=you are starting with 20 from the prior row, and the pattern now says to add 1 stitch for every 4 stitches (3 plain, 1 increase, repeat).  20 is 5 sets of 4, so you are increasing by 5, to 25 sts.

Rnd 5=you are starting with 5 sets of 5 and adding 1 for each set of 5, so now have 30 sts (which happens to be 6x5)

Rnd 6= groups of 6, same math,, total 35 (which happens to be 7x5)

Rnd 7= groups of 7, same math, total now 40  (which happens to be 8x5)

Rnd 8= groups of 8, ditto, 45 total (which happens to be 9x5)

Keep going in the same concept thru rnd 19.  The highlighting  above should make the 'pattern' clear, and help you with the logic of how to figure this sort of thing  out on your own going forward (it's a very common concept when working in the round).  In this specific pattern, think of it as 5 slices of a pie, and (so far) each slice increases by 1 stitch--so the slices get slightly wider but you increase by 5 total each round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mel30]

Hi granny square. Thanks for that. My original calculations were like yours, but then I came up with 105 stitches at round 21. Is that what you would think?

[Granny Square]

I put this on a spreadsheet (I'm retired, but spreadsheets were my thing all day long at work, so it only  took a minute).

At the end of rnd 19 which continued the above pattern, it's 100 sts.

Rnd 20 has no increases, so still 100.  100 is 5 groups of 20.  So yes, rnd 21 adds 5 again for 105 total.  I think you've got it!

 

[Mel30]

Thanks. So the 115 mentioned in the pattern is wrong?

[Granny Square]

Apologize for the delay, just saw your reply, and obviously missed/forgot where the pattern was supposed to end up.  Darn, looked again and I'm still seeing 105.

In row 1 you start with 5, and add 5 in all subsequent rows except 3 (which adds 10) and row 20 (which adds zero).  Either we are both wrong, or the pattern is; I'm just not seeing where I've gone wrong. You could fudge it to 110 if just continue the pattern in row 20 instead of working even, but your'e still 5 short.  Add an extra row as well as altering row 20?  Not sure if that would matter in the final result? Bah humbug, sorry!

row	# of sts
1	5
2	10
3	20
4	25
5	30
6	35
7	40
8	45
9	50
10	55
11	60
12	65
13	70
14	75
15	80
16	85
17	90
18	95
19	100
20	100
21	105

[Lousbabci]

I'm a little late to this conversation, but 105 looks right.  19 + 2 = 21....Repeat 4 times....so that ends up being 21 X 5 = 105 (the first set plus the repeat 4 times)