Crochet rabbit

[HenrySanders92]

Hi there. Im currently crocheting a rabbit from Vanessa Mooncie's book for wild animals. Im having trouble with a particular pattern when making the legs. I have just completed 20 rounds of working in the round. The pattern then says 'the following is worked in rows'. The first part is:

ROW 1: 1 dc in next 2 dc, turn (2sts).

ROW 2: 1 ch (does not count as a stitch), work 1 dc into the dc in front if the first dc, 1 dc in next 3 dc, our  (4sts).

The part I have underlined is the part that really confuses me. Im not sure what 'first dc' it is talking about. I have asked a fellow crocheter on Instagram if they would have any idea abut they said it looks as if it written very strange and that it is probably quite a simple step in the pattern.

 

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated as it is my first time making something bigger than a key-ring and I want to get it right!

 

Many thanks!

 

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!  Is this the pattern (the photo is of someone's project I believe, not the books's photo) https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rabbit-24 .  Ravelry lets people post their projects by pattern, and post comments; only one person mentioned issues, and about the leg area, specifically the heels; then didn't say the pattern was wrong, just that they found the heels a bit challenging.

Since you said you've worked the legs, I'm guessing the part you quoted would be the heel.  Bear with me, I'm 'supposing' here - making the heels on a sock is probably the most challenging part of sock-making; one way to do this is with 'short rows', where you stop working in the round, and start working back and forth to make a 'hill' in  'short rows' back and forth over the prior part that had been in rounds (let's say, the cuff of the sock, or the leg of a rabbit). 

However, the way it is written suggests that (in my head at least), but doesn't SAY that (also, is "our" a typo?)  I have 2 possible suggestions:

First thought--And I've done patterns like this:

Round 0: this is the part in the round that you have already done (leg), that you will  be putting heel stitches into next.

ROW 1: 1 dc in next 2 dc, turn (2sts).  

ROW 2: 1 ch (does not count as a stitch), work across the 2 dc from row 1 and dc (into row 0) [which is technically in front if the first dc of row 1] (this only gives you 3 sts, not 4)

ROW 3: 1ch, work across 3 stitches from row 2 and the next stitch in row 0 (a bit of a stretch but not impossible-this is technically 'in front' of the first stitch of round 2--you now have 4 sts) 

Row 4: 1 ch, work across the 4 stitches from row 3 and the next stitch in round 0 (you now have 5 stitches)

So, you work up and down the hill and each row, and the hill gets wider by 1 stitch each time.  

 

 

 

[Granny Square]

Here is a really ugly sketch... shows the leg row zero in green, then the 2 stitches in row 1 in red, then the following rows alternating in red and black going all the way down to row zero and the short row hill getting wider - I hope this makes sense.

[bgs]

Granny Square I looked at Rav using the link you provided.  There are 4 comments.  The 1st one is asking the same question about working into stitch in front of 1st stitch.  The 2nd comment has the answer which basically was to work into stitch that is before the one that you would normally insert your hook into to make what is the first stitch of that row.  Ok I can easily see that when making US dc.  Its that one we skip because the ch 3 counts as a stitch.  US sc problematic because we work into that first space.  Pulling out my hook and yarn the only thing I can figure is you are working into that ch.  Your thoughts?

[Granny Square]

Oh interesting, I rarely look at pattern comments, but rather project notes.- yeah, the comments did focus on the heels, didn't they?  Only the 1 project did.

As you said,, it's a UK pattern, in US SC, so the thought of chaining and skipping the first stitch like you would for USDC didn't occur to me.  

I re-wrote row 2, and guessed at the next 2 rows because (1) I knew it was the heel area and figured it would probably be something like a 'short-row heel turn' for a sock, (2) I thought row 2 was in error, because I assumed 'in front of the first stitch' to be the first stitch from row 1, not row 2--like my diagram.  Row 2 ends (on row 0) 1 stitch beyond/"in front of" the first stitch beyond the first stitch of row 1.  Row 3 ends (on row 0) 1 stitch beyond the first st from row 2 - and so on.