Altered;

• Cast on 78 instead of 96
• purled 2x2 rob for 5 rows
• made the repeat 1 purl/yo + 5 k instead of 4 stacked the repeats by 1 st every 5(yo) row
• pulled tail through when I had 14 instead of 12 sts left
• 78 sts made 13 repeats, so I had one half section left over after decreasing according to the pattern - hence the extra 2 sts

The thicker yarn/needles combined with fewer repeats made about the same size as the original.