Carron top down hats?

I love the hats in Hip Knit Hats but cant seem to get the right number of increases?? the patterns (all of them) say co 12 sts to 3 dpn, k1, m1 repeat around 18 sts total. If I cast on 12 and do that I keep getting more than 18 every single time!!! could someone walk me through only adding 6 stitches on a k1, m1 on 12??!!
Thank you!!!

If you start with 12 sts and do a *k1, M1 to the end you will get 22 stitches. If you want to change 12 to 18 you would need to do a *k1, kfb around instead. Doing a M1 makes a stitch between stitches and the knit front back makes one in the stitch. A make one might look nicer but you can’t get the stitch count that way.

I was just thinking about subsequent rows… if you want a nicer looking increase and need to keep the stitch counts going like it does on this row (more like a kfb) you could knit one and then lift the right leg of the stitch in the row just below the needle and put it on the left needle and then knit it and then the stitch on the needle. I tried that and it keeps the stitch count of 12 to 18. But you can’t do that on the row right after the cast on. Right at the top of the hat no one will notice a kfb as the hat is being worn, but I personally would not like them all over a hat.

It seems this is one of those patterns where the designer used a generic ‘m1’ to mean increase a stitch, and the increase should be a kfb. So you’d k1, kfb, k1, kfb, etc.

thank you so much!!! it works!!! :cheering: