It's quite possible that there's an error in the pattern as many mistakes do creep into these things. Contacting the writer / publisher is a good idea. The other option is to write out the decreases and increases such as: Cast on 170 st Decrease rows 6 and 8 10 times each end (so now 170-40=130) And so on checking that the number of decreases and increases agree to the stated number of stitches throughout the pattern. Then work out any pattern problems. It should be possible to work out where the error is yourself. One or two stitches difference here or there is not going to change the size of the pattern but you need to check that it is going to work out in total. Reading patterns and understanding them can be difficult - I always write out sections of the pattern in shorthand to check I understood what the pattern meant - especially as I knit a lot of translated patterns.
