Need help reading a pattern for a beret hat

Hi! I’m fairly new to knitting, and I’ve sort of gotten the hang of basic in-the-round knitting, and done some stocking caps and skull caps. I want to try my hand at a beret, and found a pattern online that I want to try, but some of the things it says has me confused.

The link to the pattern is www allcrafts.net/fjs.htm?url=throughtheloops.typepad.com/through_the_loops/2008/01/beret-recipe.html. (sorry, I’m new, can’t post links)

It has me confused right from the start, here’s what it says:

[INDENT]To make the hat I cast on 4 sts.
For the first round I knit into the front and back of each stitch. (8sts) Place markers between each of these eight stitches, they will mark your increases.
2nd round: Kf&b each stitch (16 sts).
3rd round: (Kf&B 1, k1) repeat to end of round (24 sts).
(I work the increase rounds for each of the first three rounds to make the top of the hat a little flatter.)
4th round: knit
5th round: (Kf&b, k to marker) repeat to end of round (32 sts)
Continue in this way, alternating plain knit rounds with increase rounds. The number of knit stitches between the kf&b’s will increase by 1 each time. Stop increasing once your work measures about 8.5" diameter.[/INDENT]

I assume that this calls for circular needles (it never specifies needles or gauge) What does it mean when they say “knit into the front and back of each stitch (8 sts)”? I’m not sure what that is. If I figure that out, the rest may suddenly make sense.

Any help appreciated! Thanks!!

Laurie

There’s a good video on the Knitting Help site under [U]Free Videos: Increases[/U] that shows you how to knit in the front and back of a stitch. When you kfb in each of your 4 cast on stitches, the pattern is telling you that you’ll now have 8 sts.
You could use dpns or two circular needles or magic loop for this beginning of the beret. I prefer to start with dpns and then go to circular needles when there are enough stitches to fit nicely on the circular needle.