Help on baby dress pattern! Please!

#1

I am working on an adorable pattern (Sirdar “The Essential Baby Book” Design B Dress Bonnet and Shawl).
I somehow keep dropping stitches. There are supposed to be 151. I count before every row but still lose at least one every other row! I should be about 9" into the dress but I’m about 3" from having to repeatedly tear it out! Any advice?

#2

Are you actually dropping them, as in they fall off the needle and run down so there’s a loop there, or do you accidentally knit 2 together?

You might try switching to circular needles; you can knit flat with them and their extra length prevents them crowding together so they’re less likely to fall off. Also, when you set your work down, you can push the sts to the cord and well away from the tips.