Happy holidays, all!

I am knitting my first hat in the round and am very excited to do decreases for the first time. I'm having trouble figuring out the following two instructions (see my questions in parentheses below). Can you help me out?

1. "Begin decreases by K6, K2 tog.
Knit next round
Continue having 1 less stitch before decreases."

(I understand the K6/K2 tog, and the knit next round. But what does "1 less stitch before decreases" mean? Is that just what will naturally happen if I do the k6/k2tog and knit the next round?)

2. "Switch to dpns when needed and finish off by drawing yarn through last 8 sts."

(What does it mean to "switch to dpns when needed"?)

Many thanks, all!

Peace,
GG

Your decreases are over 8 sts: K6, K2tog. You are losing 1 stitch in each set of decreases. So the next time it will be K5, K2tog. Then following one will be K4, K2tog.

2. "Switch to dpns when needed and finish off by drawing yarn through last 8 sts."

(What does it mean to "switch to dpns when needed"?)

This assumes you are working your hat on a circular needle. At some point, after decreasing a few rounds, you will have too few stitches to fit around the circular needle. This is the point they are telling you to switch to using double pointed needles.

Or, you could switch to magic loop, single loop, or even 2 circular needles.

Thanks so much! This was all very helpful :)