I think that's a counter for the 18 rows (just circle or X out the number after you've worked it). If you remove the word "count" you'll notice the numbers line up as follows:

1 4 7 10 13 16
2 5 8 11 14 17
3 6 9 12 15 18

Thank you for the help!
I was at the point where I couldn't knit another row without finding out what those numbers were.
I knitted repeated rows through the first part of this pattern and don't understand why all of a sudden they list the rows like that... So I am happy you answered that one for me. Thanks again