Tales of Trial and Terror: Going Insane A.K.A. Brooke's Column of Leaves

AAARGH!

A wonderful group of people have inspired me to think about the upcoming new year, which made me ponder how many people actually go through with their resolutions... and I know I haven't; hell this is the second, maybe third time in my life I have ever really made a new years resolution list.

I digress. As I made the list I put a particular emphasis on crafting a little more than I game; my time is very biased towards gaming currently...
In order to remedy this, I decided I'd start the new year with a project that took more effort, which I concluded to being needle crafts; knitting to be more specific.

In all honesty, I was already knee deep in thought towards needle crafts; I am making a (very belated) Christmas present for my best friend. I was going to embroider her a koi on a loop, and make her an heirloom scarf; the pattern of which, this post is dedicated to...

Brooke's Column of Leaves

Source of Photo / Source for Pattern

 Or should I say Brooke's Nightmare Column of Leaves...

Hindsight tells me I bit off more than I could chew with this pattern, but whispers tell tale that this was a particularly fun and challenging step towards a knitter's education; it made sense, it's not like it was a pair of socks or a sweater! Making a more elaborate scarf seemed liked the best step to take.

The pattern calls for 39 stitches to be cast on. Ok...

Then it says to "Knit about 1 inch of garter stitch edging as follows: (WS) p1, knit across until last stitch, p1
(RS) slip 1, knit across until last stitch, slip 1
Repeat for about 8 rows, or until it is as long as you like. End on a WS row."

Right...

The problem I have does not lie with the majority... mine is so baffling that my mind simply whirls with insane frustration. It begins with the first row of the pattern:
Row 1 (RS): slip 1, k2, SKP, yo, k2, p2, K7, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, p1, yo, k1, yo, SKP, k7, p2, SKP, yo, k4, slip 1 
(You will have 41 stitches on your needle at the end of this row, and at the end of all RS rows.)

And so I begin, until I come to the last SKP of the first row (every damn time), and realize I do not have enough stitches to complete yo, k4, slip 1... the most puzzling of all this is that I end up with 41 stitches, just like the pattern said I would... what what?!

Believing that despite missing more than a couple stitches, but still having 41 I should still continue. Alas, as my swatch grew it was apparent that it wasn't going to work.

So, then I figured what the hell, I'll work on 45 stitches CO, and I completed the first and second row seamlessly and it seemed at then that the pattern was wrong... but nope, the third till eighth had too many remaining stitches.

After clearing my needle and starting over numerous times, I am losing a little hope each time...
I really want to make this scarf; it is not going to triumph over me like the cable knit has!

P.S. I am a English style knitter... so the continental video directions bewilder me.

Will our hero make it out?! Stay tuned till the next episode of...

Tales of Trial and Terror!