I recently started the Rosemary Sweater by Robyn Chachula.
This pattern is from knittingdailytv.com; it's a free pattern in Episode 101. Lovely sweater, take a look.
I'm having a problem with a few things.

Firstly, when I dc, I ch. 2 or 3 before each new row and skip the very first dc (which the chaining replaces); with this pattern and the Ldc (linked double crochet) I'm unsure if we do that or not.

Secondly, there are rows where it says to skip the first Ldc and continue across. Logically, to me, that means that with each row you would be decreasing by one Ldc. But when it tells you the Ldc count (number of stitches) it goes up?

Currently, I'm between the part with the Right neck shaping and the right-arm and -front shaping on the Back.

I'd really appreciate some help clearing up my confusion. Maybe I'm just not reading the pattern properly.