Category: Advice

… in progress as I am still learning and discovering …

I’ve spent the last two weeks fixing, disassembling, servicing, and cleaning all kinds of Garter carriages. I went through a mix of emotions: from the agony of trying to identify the problem to fix to make the garter carriage work to complete awe watching the garter carriage knit a whole baby blanket just after I pressed all the necessary buttons.

In fact, it was so relaxing to watch Garter Carriage knit that my family would find me drinking coffee in front of it (instead of TV or a FaceBook page). Check out my pages with my projects, advice/notes, and patterns.

While being enthralled, I knitted swatches, hats, custom patterns, multicolor (just stripes, not using a true 2-color GC), blankets on all 200 needles…. So, below are my observations and notes.

Garter carriage is a bulky (meaning, big) carriage, but unlike a main machine carriage, it knits on its own but slowly. Garter carriages are temperamental. In fact, VERY! So below I am compiling a list of commonly appearing questions, my observations, and knowledge (acquired by making a LOT of mistakes).

The garter carriage moves too slowly.

If you want you GC to move faster, adjust the dial on its power supply. Right (“H”) is to increase the speed. If this does not change the speed, it is very likely that either the motor is malfunctioning or there is gunk in the carriage preventing it from moving faster.

The garter carriage stopped and is not moving.

• The service manual describes some of the possible reasons:
• Check if the power supply is actually working. My carriage stopped working literally in the middle of a project, and i could not figure out what was going on until I decided to try a different power supply. Well, the previous power supply decided to die without a warning.
• The motor is not running. There are several reasons for that: bad motor, incorrect connection to the electrical outlet, yarn sensor is down, your row counter is at zero, a knot in the yarn feeder… Refer to the service manual for more detailed information.

What might cause garter carriage to randomly drop stitches?

• bad (bent needle): it might have a sticky latch, be bent, misaligned or stuffed with lint. Check this first.
• yarn is too thick. Solution: decrease tesion (increase the number on the dial) or switch the yarn. I was able to use yarns on garter carriage that a regular standard-gauge machine cant. BUt there is always a limit.
• problematic yarn: fuzzy, or with boucle, or staticky, or stretchy yarn, or simply yarn that does not want to knit on the garter carriage (it happened to me; I put it in a bag and marked “GC cannot knit”).
• check sponge bar: the spongy part needs to be about 1 cm above the metal sides. also: is it still spongy? is it even across the length of the retaining bar?
• gate pegs might be bent or out of line. Check gate pegs from different angles.
• clean the brushes from fluff and dust.
• insufficient or too much weight

Overall, Garter carriages are quite temperamental.

Why does my garter carriage turn in the wrong place?

There are actually a lot of reasons for that, and they depend on the situation.

• old grease and gunk. Solution: open up your carriage and clean it up.
• if you recently disassembled your garter carriage, check if the turning cams are installed correctly
• check the manual: it says for the automatic “turn” function, the slider needs to be moved to “G” first otherwise it causes problems.

• make sure your needlebed DOES NOT miss any needles. It will trigger the turning cams incorrectly.

Are extension rails necessary?

It depends on the width of what you are knitting and also on your comfort level. It also depends on your machine. For example, the needlbed of the Brother KH930 is pretty wide (beyond where the needles are nested). In addition, the end cap on the right-hand side is wide too. So, even if you are moving the garter carriage past the sensor (to activate the “GC ON” light on the machine), rails are not necessarily. Thus, even if you are knitting on the full bed (like shown in this video), rails are not all that necessary.

What are good yarns to use with the garter carriage?

Garter carriages can handle yarns thicker than the standard machines can. Mostly because it knits one stitch at a time and pulls the yarn to form one stitch at a time. A couple of examples: For example, I made a wonderful blanket with “we love yarn” (400 g/1312 m; 100 g/328 m) per ball) which is considered pretty thick for standard-gauge machines. This yarn creates beautiful texture and is machine washable at 104 F. I made a blanket with the cream yarn with tension 9 for the border and 10 for the main body. One skein of Mega Ball was enough. Two-color garter carriages will need thinner yarns (for both feeders). But in both cases, knitters need to experiment with yarns and tensions. The golden rule: if the machine struggles, increase the number on the tension dial (which loosens the tension). Still struggling: the yarn is not compatible with your garter carriage.

Do I need to remove the ribber bracket to use the GC on my machine?

Just the brackets should not affect GC functioning. However, some believe that the best angle for GC to work properly is when the machine is flat. Thus, use the flat table clamps, not the S-curved ones (those that we use to attach our machines to ribbers).

Do I need to use cast-on comb?

Yes and no. Some knitters like to hang the cast-on comb on the 3rd or further rows. Some knit without it. I found that with thicker yarns and for two-color carriage, cast-on combs benefit me. Again: try and see for yourself.

Why are GC needles so expensive?

Simple answer: supply and demand.

My garter carriage is mispatterning.

Again, there are several reasons, including a gunked-up machine. But also:

• you forgot to activate the GC light on the machine (if your machine is electronic)
• bad garter carriage needle: replace it
• not a super fresh sponge in the retaining bar
• bent or defective main bed needles