I'm totally stuck on a pattern

[Janieb]

Please can anyone tell me how to do this round? I'm crocheting a toy elephant.

*2dc into next dc, 1dc into each of next 2dc* rep from* to * 5 times more, 1dc into next dc, rep from * to * 7 times. 53dc.

There are currently 40 dc.

Grateful to anyone who can help. 

Thanks jane

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

The last thing on your line first - some patterns give a stitch total at the end of each line, your line makes 53 dc, so that is just a double-check total not meaning to make 53 more dc.

" *2dc into next dc, 1dc into each of next 2dc* " --  the stuff between the 2 asterisks is the instruction to repeat (I'll call it 'the repeat' going forward).  It traverses/uses 3 stitches from the prior row; into the first stitch you put 2 dc, into the second stitch you put 1 dc, and into the third stitch you put 1 dc.  This turns 3 stitches into 4.

"5 times more" - you do the repeat a total of 6 times.  Then, following your line above, you make 1 dc into the next dc, and then the repeat another 7 times.  At the end of all this you should have 53 DC. 

Let's do the math.  Above I said the repeat inside the asterisks creates 4 stitches.  In the paragraph above I said you do the repeat 6 times, plus make 1 stitch, plus the repeat another 7 times.  6x4=24, plus 1, plus 7x4=28,  which totals 53.  Simple arithmetic comes up a lot in crochet, including making sure you are understanding a pattern line like I talked you through above--you don't have to be a math whiz (I'm certainly not, I just added all that up with my always-handy calculator).