I can never remember which type of lace is “lace knitting” and which is “knitted lace,” so I use a different pair of names: “easy lace” and “hard lace.” Start with “easy lace,” which has one or more plain rows/rounds of all-knit or all-purl between the rows/rounds with the lace action (i.e., the yarnovers and decreases). Plenty of pretty lace is made with every other row/round worked plain, so you may never feel the need to try “hard lace,” which has yarnovers and decreases on every row/round.
Swatch at least two stitch repeats, and if your project yarn is thinner (or MUCH thinner) than you’re used to, use some scrap yarn in whatever weight you use most so that you can get used to the rhythm of the stitch repeat before attempting to also get used to the thinner yarn. Depending on how complicated the stitch pattern is, you might be able to stop halfway through the row repeat, need to do a full row repeat, or do multiple row repeats. Then optionally swatch with the thinner yarn before casting on the full number of stitches.
As @FreedomLover mentioned, stitch markers! If you have yarnovers at the beginning and/or end of the stitch repeat next to the stitch markers, be aware that they’ll want to migrate to the adjacent stitch repeat. One way to stop them is to use any kind of long, rather than circular, stitch marker. They can be the beaded dangly kind, but even coil-less safety pins and the light-bulb shaped markers work well. If you think a yarnover has moved from its spot, you simply grab the hanging-down part of the marker and rotate it upwards. The yo will pop back to its rightful place.
Lifelines are helpful. If you’re working easy lace, they’re not as important, but they will save your sanity if you need to frog or even tink hard lace. Depending on the complexity of the pattern, you might run a lifeline through every other row/round, through the halfway point of the row repeat, or through the end of each row repeat. You have to weigh the annoyance of running the lifeline through the live stitches with the potential pain of frogging back however many rows/rounds to the most recent lifeline. Knitter’s choice.
Lots of lace patterns can be much more readily understood if they’re charted. The relationships between this pair of yarnovers on the current row to that double decrease on a later row instantly becomes clear. You may find that columns of purl stitches form natural markers between stitch repeats. And if you’re working hard lace flat, you can turn the chart upside-down for the WS rows so that you are reading the chart in the same direction that you’re working the stitches–AND THE DECREASE SYMBOLS STILL LEAN THE SAME DIRECTION. That means you don’t have to do any mind-bending swaps of which decrease is where, because a K2tog will still slant like / when the chart is upside down. Turning the chart upside-down is the only way I could have done my Alpine Meadows shawl (project page at http://hollybriscoe.com/wp-content/u…adowsShawl.pdf).
If you’re not comfortable with charts, I have a twelve-hundred-page (!) book (Stitch by Bloody Stitch: Knitting Charts Explained) dedicated to the subject and available for free download at my website: http://hollybriscoe.com/first-edition-announced/. Each chapter and appendix is in a separate PDF, so follow the instructions under the heading “The Absolute Minimum.” I explain in frankly excruciating detail how to read, create, and modify charts, and you can chart along if you download my free knitting font. (You don’t need to download the font to read the book online or as downloads.)
