Drop Stitch Lace Tank Dilemma

I am currently working on the DSLT in the round and am hoping somebody can help me.  I don’t know if this is relevant or not but I originally cast on 136 stitches. 

I am at the point where I need to be working the front in the pattern stitch and the back is to be worked in ribbing.  Here is where I’m at a slight standstill.  After having starting working the pattern stitch I now have 151 sts on the needle.  Clearly, this cannot be divided evenly and I will have to work 76-77 sts for front/back.  So, my question is how many sts do I work?  In regards to the front, if I work 76 or 77 sts, I lose some of the pattern sts.  Do I work 72 or 80 sts in order to preserve the pattern sts? Or does it not matter?

Then there is the issue with the back, do you keep the ribbing pattern correct by eliminating the yo’s as suggested in the errata and if you do, don’t you end up losing sts?

I hope I at least made some sense.  Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

[Elizabeth]

I just realized last night that the back is knit in ribbing. I knit the front and back with the drop stitch pattern. LOL

For the lace pattern you need a multiple of 8 stitches + 4, so you want to make sure the front has enough. Then I'd probably increase or decrease stitches in the back to make it even with the front. Does that make sense?