craftgrrl | 1940s Merchant Navy Sweater -- pattern error?

I'm pretty sure this one isn't in the archives here. :-) I'm knitting the Merchant Navy sweater from my baba's pattern books, dating from the 1940s, and the instructions in shaping the front neck don't add up to the number of stitches on the needle. I posted the message below in the Organic Gardening Crafts forum because a lot of the people I know there are knitters, but I know I have a wider audience in

craftgrrl, and hopefully a deeper well of knowledge to draw on.

Edited August 7: No need to click under the cut. I am terminally embarrassed by my uber-noobness, the nightmare tech-support customer quandary. Problem solved, wet-cat-attitude will lift only after I've managed to backtrack a few thousand stitches and fix my careless error. If you wish to snicker or commiserate, however, I am open to such comments.

I think I've discovered an error in the 1940s pattern I'm using to make a merchant navy sweater. The back seems fine. The front is done the same as the back, until you get to the neck.

90 stitches on the needle, rib for 4ins, then stocking stitch 20-1/2ins all the way up to the neckline. Then I have to shape the right shoulder and neck:

"1st row: p29. Turn. Work these 29 st only for right side of front.
2nd row: K1. s1, psso (knit one, slip one, pass slipped stitch over), knit to end.
3rd row: purl
Repeat 2nd and 3rd row 4 times, until you have 24 sts."

90 stitches - 29 stitches = 61 stitches.

Then I shape the shoulder seam, cast off all 24 stitches, join the yarn at the left neck, and shape the left side of the shoulder and neck. No problem.

Here is where I have the problem:

"Slip 16 center stitches on to a stitch holder and leave for neck. Join wool at neck edge of remaining 29 stitches."

29 + 16 = 45, not 61.

I have 32 unworked stitches in the middle of the sweater front, and I'm not sure what to do about it. The pattern is consistent in counting only 16 stitches on the neck front for working up the collar.

To finish the neck, I have to use a set of 4 #8 dpns: "...slip the 26 back stitches on to one needle and the 16 sts of front on to another needle. Join wool at right shoulder seam.

1st round: K2, *P2, K2. Repeat from * 5 times across back of neck.Usinga nother needle, pick up and knit 13 sts from left side of neck. Work across 16 front stis as follows: P1, K2, *P2, K2. Repeat from * twice, P1. Using another needle, pick up and knit 13st from right side of neck. (68 sts) Divide the stitches from center front on the 2 side needles."

You see what I mean? There was nothing in the instructions about "K2tog" for the centre 16 stitches, which would have made some sense, actually, but I'm leery of trying that if it's going to drastically change the shape of the neck. I can't skimp on picking up the stitches in the neck because I'd have big holes in the sweater. Can I reduce the number of stitches in the centre by K2tog without wrecking the sweater?

Also:

"2nd round: *K2, P2. Repeat from * to the end of round.
Repeat 2nd round until ribbing measures 7 inches (or 49 rounds, given the gauge).
Last round: *K1 M.1, P2"

I can't figure this one out: M.1 -- "make 1"? this doesn't make sense to me: I'm already doing "K2, P2", and if I follow these instructions, I'm going to change the edge: it won't be in rib. Even "K1, M1, K1, P2" would make a sort of sense -- because I have to cast off loosely, so I'm giving myself a bit of extra space to do it. I can't tell from the picture what the edge of the neck looks like.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can fix this? It's not like I can query the publisher -- I don't have the cover, so I can't be sure which issue of which magazine I'm using, or even if the company still exists. The pattern doesn't ask for a brand of yarn, like most magazines do.

I'm loving this little puzzle, but I'm all puzzed out now. I've left the 32 sts in the centre front on a stitch holder, for now, and am working on the sleeves. They, at least, are straight forward.

So I don't need answers immediately. (I expect each and every knitter here to research my question thoroughly, yes I do!

Seeing as I can't just call up an image of this sweater online, because this pattern book was published back when you didn't need postal codes to mail packages to places, you'll have to wait for me to get around to scanning the pages I'm using, plus take a picture of the finished garment, should I ever finish it. (I tend to run out of steam with knitting projects, and end up frogging it -- learned that expression here, and I LOVE it! -- for mittens and hats.) Thanks for any help you can give -- and I have to boot off to my writers' group meeting now, so I can't sign up for

knitting and cross-post there just this instant. :-) But the cross-post may happen. Don't let that stop you from trying to help, though.