Help with a pattern please

[Emily T]

Hi there everyone! 

I'm stuck on a section of my pattern, namely the 'ddc dec' stitch in rounds 1 & 2.

Thank you in advance for your help! 

Edited November 19, 2020 by Emily T
To attach pictures

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville! 

Have you ever done a DC 2 together?  Or a cluster of several stitches into 1?  A cluster and a "x together" are almost identical, except a cluster is several partial new stitches made into 1 stitch and joined at the top, and a "x together" is 2 or more partial stitches made into 2 or more different stitches, and joined together at the top.

When you do either of those things, right before the last yo and pull thru, the # of loops on your hook is the number of stitches you are joining, + 1.  So this transaction has you pulling thru 5 loops, which means you are joining 4 stitches together.

I think the use of [  ] versus * for the repeat is a little confusing.  It says [do this and know it will be repeated because it's in brackets] twice - so read it as "*dc2together just short of the last yo and pull thru, repeat from * once more and pull thru all 5 loops".