How do I count stitches without losing my place?

Lay the piece right side up and count the V shapes along the top edge from right to left if you are right-handed. Each V is one stitch. Twenty V's is twenty stitches, and the number should match the pattern's round total exactly.

If the top edge is a turning chain rather than true stitches, count the row below it instead. A row that ends in a chain-3 has three chain V's on top of it and they look exactly like stitches.

The joining slip stitch, which sits at the same height as a stitch and looks like one. The turning chain, which is taller and thinner but still reads as a V. And the magic ring's tail, which loops across the centre and can look like a first-round stitch in a small piece.

Pick a convention and write it at the top of the pattern: the slip stitch never counts, the turning chain counts only if you work into it next round, and the magic ring's first round has exactly as many stitches as you actually worked into it.

Fold the round in half and count half of it, then double. On an 18-stitch round, count to 9 along one half and check that the fold lands on a stitch boundary. If it lands mid-stitch, the round is odd and something is wrong.

For long rounds, count in tens and pinch the fabric at each ten with a spare marker. Counting to 36 in one pass is where mistakes happen; counting to 10 four times is not.