More on combining lace patterning with added stitch types looked at lace transfers consistently to the center of groups of 3, with stitches transferred down to the ribber between them, creating vertical columns of knit stitches on a purl ground alternating with lace patterning.
One of the related swatches: 
Those who prefer the look, or anyone without a ribber, can use ladders to separate the pattern groups.
The color and fiber content are contributing factors, as always. In addition, with time and wear, stitches aside, the ladders may grow in size, with the space between them becoming diminished. There are always pros and cons to any technique.
This design was tested on 31 stitches and on both a bulky and a standard machine.
Cable crossings that formed eyelets occurred after every 6 rows knit. The repeat was sampled on a multiple of 4-1.
My scrawled needle tapes for both machines to help track transfers. 
After the first few repeats, the knit itself becomes a clear visual guide to stitch movements and is easy to execute.
Start with every 4th needle out of work, knit 6 rows.
The center stitch in each group is moved over by 3 positions, and the emptied needle is moved back to the A position to create the new ladder.
Moving the needles out to the E position offers the opportunity to look for proper stitch transfers and any dropped stitches.
The formerly empty needle, as one moves across the row, is returned to the work position, and new groups of 3 stitches are formed and knit for 6 rows.
At that point, after repeating the actions on each group of 3 stitches, one returns to the same distribution as in the starting position.
The design 12 row repeat: circles represent stitch transfer location with the corresponding needles taken out of work, while orange cells point to locations where empty needles are returned to work, becoming the center stitch in each new group of 3.
The test swatch was knit using a softly spun rayon
scale compared to its bulky knit companion
Adding stitch transfers to the ribber along with a change in in the type of stitch crossings, eyelets are formed where empty needles are returned to work.
The work on the machine on a multiple of 12+2 stitches, with needle tape markings, and needles brought out to D position after crossings: 
Getting more complicated: the move of 2 stitches as one so as to leave empty needles, shares the same concept as in the last swatch, but over a wider space. The setup rows are on every needle, all stitches knit on every row, a border can be added on each side, what appear to be ladders are the result of the yarn getting tugged across needle spaces by cable crossings.
Stitch and needle arrangements on the machine after the respective completed series of transfer rows.
Closer looks: the pairs of stitches that will be moved to face the back of the work can be rested on their tool on the adjacent pair of needles, leaving the hands free to manipulate the remaining pairs of stitches. 
The stitch further away from the center group of 8 is moved first, onto the adjacent one, 
then both skip a needle and move one spot over, 
the held pair of stitches moves in turn, to fill the empty pair of needles, 
completing the first set of transfers
While moving across the row, as long as the needles are in B position, the needles with double stitches and the adjacent empty one may be used as the resting place for the double eye transfer tool while the adjacent pair is manipulated.
The test swatch was knit using a 2/8 wool.
The bottom includes testing tension and simple crossings.
Cables for me are an excellent way to not only test the machine and yarn tolerance, but that of the operator as well.
The back of this knit is textured and stretched taut between metal machine parts, so errors (or discoveries to follow up on, “design features”) are not immediately identifiable without careful checking. 
More to browse
Ladders with lace, (leaf) “making things work” 1
Ladders with lace, (leaf) “making things work” 2
Ladder lace
Ladders and Lace
MK ladders, and a bit of crochet includes a hand crochet edging