Christine

[Chrisy]

When I finish round of treble  I'm told to slip st into chain then chain3 then start next round but it is throwing  my pattern  out. What am I doing wrong?

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

This is a normal transaction for working in joined rounds.  You finish a round (say round 2), then attach (slip stitch) the last stitch made in round 2 to the first stitch made on round 2, chain 3, and start the following round (round 3). 

The 'chain 3', or turning chain, counts as the first stitch of round 3.  The turning chain counts as a stitch for every stitch but a US SC (UK DC).

I'm focusing on turning chains because not understanding how they work is a frequent reason for miscount issues.

You don't have to actually turn to need to make a turning chain, it's technically 'a chain you make to bring the yarn up to the level of the next row', but turning chain is less typing!   

 

[bgs]

When working in rounds its easy to mistake your slip stitch for a stitch and mistakenly work in it throwing your count off. 

[Granny Square]

Oh, thanks for reminding me, I have a visual for that 'looks like a stitch but is not a stitch'.  See the red arrow below?  That is pointing to not-a-stitch.  

[Chrisy]

Trouble is I'm told to slip st. Then chain3.  If I go to arrow it pulls work down.but I still have to do 3ch. Which doesn't  close the round

[Granny Square]

The arrow is pointing to the horizontal slip stitch, which needs to be skipped.  Coming out of the slip stitch are the 3 chains that started the current row, the bottom-most one is a little squished but the second and third chain are clearer.

The next step in the photo is put the hook back in and insert it into the third chain that started that round, slip stitch to start the next round.  I underlined that part to emphasize that stitch 1 in every round is made into the top of stitch 1 of the prior round. The slip stitch (red arrow) is the base of stitch 1 of the current round , and is not to be worked into for the last stitch of the current round.  I hope that makes sense?  

[Granny Square]

I've annotated my photo, I hope this clarifies what I was trying to say above.  Skip the red slip stitch that started the round and slst in the blue top of the turning chain to start the next round.