Question about pattern in felted bag

[El]

Hello.
I'm making my first felted project, a medium-sized tote bag. Every six rows (after doing the bottom), the pattern is k1, yf (yarn forward), slip1, yb (yarn back), and that gets repeated for the entire round. My question is: I counted the stitches after doing this and the next round, and it did not result in any increase in the number of stitches. So, is there a purpose to this pattern; like, will it show up in the felted end result OR am I doing it wrong? I'm doing the yb just the opposite of the yf. Thanks for any help!
Ellen