Thanks for the comments! It’s nice to know that I’m just wrong and not crazy. I’m thinking that maybe I started the decreases at 4 inches for the Hayden and the Esther Williams hats because the decreases were incorporated into the stitch pattern and spread out further than every other row.

That’s my guess anyway. It’s been a few years since I wrote them. But I’m more than happy to know that on regular stockinette or a comparable stitch I’m supposed to knit a few extra inches before decreasing.