Reading a repeat
Many charts show one repeat, marked with a bold box, instead of the whole row. You work the boxed stitches again and again until the row is complete, then work any stitches outside the box once.
Working out your stitch count
Stitches across = number of repeats × stitches in the repeat + edge stitches.
A 12-stitch repeat worked 8 times with 2 edge stitches is 8 × 12 + 2 = 98 stitches. Patterns often write this as “a multiple of 12, plus 2”. To change the width, add or remove whole repeats.