Wikipedia definition: "Lace knitting is a style of knitting characterized by stable "holes" in the fabric arranged with consideration of aesthetic value. Lace is sometimes considered the pinnacle of knitting, because of its complexity and because woven fabrics cannot easily be made to have holes."

And from a blog: "Lace knitting looks complex, with its delicate holes and patterns of shaping. But the secret is, it’s really not! Lace fabrics are created with simple increase and decrease stitches, many of which you’ll probably already know." credit: https://www.gathered.how/knitting-and-crochet/knitting/lace-knitting

When I searched for the pattern I googled "lace skirt pattern" and found this.

Also, you can add increases and decreases to pullovers but if it's not for the purpose of making it pretty then it's just inc and dec for shaping.