Trying to read a pattern

[DebbieGiddens]

My round 4 ended with 66 DC, now the pattern reads:  rounds 5-17 in each round join 1st and last 2tr (40) secure piece and set a side.  ???? Help

[Granny Square]

So, you have made the oval that looks like the top photo on the page above, right?  And that oval has 66 stitches around it, and continues with 66 sts thru round 4 .

You typed 'set a side' (3 words), where it is really 'set aside' (2 words) -- when a pattern says to 'set aside' a piece you have been working on, it usually means just that, you stop working on that part and start working on another completely different part, and presumably you will pick up the part you set aside when the pattern is ready for you to connect it to something.  Example, if you were working on a pullover sweater, you might make the front piece, set it aside, then work on the back piece and sew it to the front piece, set that assembly aside, and so on with each sleeve.

On the instructions for the 5th -17th rounds, it says to 'join first and last 2 tr'.  I think this is another case of unconventional phrasing, I believe what it really should have said is to make a decrease involving the last 2 trebles of the round, plus the first treble, to make 3 stitches into  1 (a decrease of 2) each round.  Notice your stitch count goes down from 66 at the end of the 4th round to 40 by the end of the 17th round. 

round 4=66 sts before you start to decrease 

rounds 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 is a total of 13 rounds.  13 rounds x 2 decreases per  round is a total of 26 decreases.  66 minus 26 is 40, which is the number of stitches you should have at the end of row 17 according to the pattern.

The reason I talked you through my thought process on the arithmetic is to help you solve problems/answer questions later on your own.  Sometimes you'll find that the designer goofed on the number of stitches you should have at a certain point, but this pattern works out correctly.

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Granny Square