Okay, I've got it! Thanks for your quick reply and clarification. Knewbie

Knewbie - On one row, you knit wrapping the yarn around the needle. The next 2 rows, you will slip that stitch, letting it unwrap. The reason you are wrapping the yarn around the needle is so that you will have enough yarn to slip that stitch for 2 consecutive rows without causing any puckering. Since you are letting the stitch unwrap as you slip it, you are not increasing any stitches. I hope that helps! Cheryl

HELP! I am having difficulty understanding this pattern. The way I read it is: the double vertical bar: "knit, wrapping yarn around needle" is an increase stitch, meaning the row will increase one stitch every 4 stitches but nowhere do I see anything that will decrease it back to the 265 stitches. The row above has a slip stitch above each of the previously described stitches. And the way I understand a slip stitch is it just moves to the other needle without being stitched...not dropped or decreased. So this thing is going to grow and grow and that is not how the wrap appears in the photo! Please clarify.