knitting direction?

[smoses]

[There is a direction I have come upon - what does mult of 4 sts + 6 mean? Its used in a beaded picot cast-on. I asked by friend but she tried to explain it and I couldn't understand. Some people are excellent knitters but, not good teachers. thanks new to site, it looks like a fun place, hope to make lots of friends

[salmonmac]

It means that the pattern stitch or pattern repeat is over 4sts. In addition, there are 6sts which might be edge sts. So if you wanted to make the item smaller or larger, you would increase or decrease in increments of 4. For example, the pattern might call for casting on 22sts (4x4sts) + 6sts=22. If you wanted it larger you could cast on 26sts (5x4sts) + 6sts=26.