Knitting Patterns  

LACE TIPS:

 Measuring Lace GAUGE.

To calculate lace gauge lay the blocked swatch on a flat surface and, using a flat ruler, measure the full portion of lace in which the pattern is worked through twice.  To be extra sure, also measure half of the lace, which is the pattern worked through once. Divide number of stitches used in swatch by number of sts.  If these figures are both the same fraction you'll know your measuring was correct. 

When knitting lace patterns, there is generally a compensating  decrease for every increase.

Or you could say there is a compensating increase for every decrease.  The increase most commonly used is a Yarn over - so you could say there is a compensating decrease for every YO.