Which stitch to knit after decrease in lace pattern

How-to Questions
1

Hi,
I confused to know which stitch to knit after decrease in lace pattern I usually just look at my work and guess but after disaster in my baby hat project I need to know if there is a way to know ex: k3,yo,skp,k2tog,yo,k3 when my patt tell me to cast off 4 in beg of patt and continue? yo or skp. My friend susgest counting stitch and knit the next stitch which if cast off 4 then the number 5 stitch which skp, I counting it like this
1-3 knitt
4 yo
5 skp
6 k2tog
7 yo
8 - 11 knitt
Thanks

2

Welocme to Knitting Help!
At the beginning of the row, when I look at the unworked sts on the left needle, they would ordinarily be used for
1-3 knit
4 slip
5 k1
6-7 k2tog
8-10 knit
I would bind off the first 4 of those sts. Remember that it’ll take working 5 sts to bind off 4 sts and so that leaves you with one stitch on the right needle and ready to yo, k2tog, k3.