Above is a simple lace knitting chart. Generally speaking lace projects are knit on single pointed needles and the final items are not circular in design; think scarfs, shawls, etc. There is movement as one knits this type of project from having the right-side face the knitter and on the next row the wrong-side facing. This back and forth makes it important to track exactly what row is being knit. On the odd numbered rows the chart is read from right to left (because that's how a right-handed knitter knits) and on even numbered rows it's read from left to right because the chart is always showing you how the right side will look. (OK, can you see how this might already be a bit too complicated for some of us, or do I really mean me . ) There are only four types of stitches to remember in this chart. The vertical line is a knit stitch on the right side of the project and purl on the wrong side. There is the yarn over ...
Getting it together one stitch at a time.