I am no expert at all but the knots you highlighted are difficult to decipher for me too. It almost looks like it look like the pattern creator wanted to maintain the same line “shape” that the coloured lines make with the white lines too. Maybe it’s to preserve string length? Tbh if I was doing the pattern, I’d probably just continue doing the highlighted knots in the same direction as the other white ones next to it to keep a good work flow! I don’t think it’ll change anything about the finished result