How to do Garter Stitch on the Knitting Machine with a Ribber

By Don Reeves

Many machine knitters have ask me how I do the garter stitch borders on my scarves and baby afghans. Most of them ask if I hand manipulate the stitches by dropping the stitch and reforming it into a purl stitch. That would be the normal way to do it, but I drop too many stitches and it takes too long if you have a lot of stitches to turn into garter stitch. You could use the garter bar, but I haven’t mastered the tool yet.

I make garter stitches with my ribber. Any stitch you transfer down to the ribber will be knit as a purl stitch on the front (public side) of the material you are knitting and as a knit stitch on the back side (the side facing you as you knit).

With hand knitting, you knit every stitch of the row and turn your work and then knit every stitch again. In other word, every stitch is a knit stitch no matter which side of the work you are on. This makes the garter stitch ridges.

With machine knitting, we cannot turn our work (except with a garter bar or waste yarn) so we have to do 1 row on the Main Bed and then 1 row on the Ribber Bed to get the same effect.

This is a small photo tutorial of how I accomplish this feat.

The tools I use:

A short cast on comb

A rug latch tool (to crochet cast on with)

A clothes pin

Double eye transfer needle

Triangle weight holder

Large ribber weight

Starting with the carriage on the right (I’m mostly right handed), I cast on the number of the stitches I need. (if you are left handed you can start with the carriage on the left) I then knit 1 row to the left.

Here is a photo where I have cast on 20 needles and have knit 1 row to the left.

I hang my short cast on comb, then my triangle weight holder on that, and finally my large ribber weight. I use the clothes pin to hold the loose end of the yarn down.

I always try to set my machine up so that when I need to transfer stitches to the ribber, my carriage is on the Left. When I transfer the same stitches back up to the main bed, my carriage is on the Right.

The 1st stitch on the Left and the Last stitch on the Right will always stay on the Main Bed. (I don’t ever transfer them to the ribber) This makes for a neater edge to your scarf or afghan. You can hang a small claw weight on each side of your work to keep these 2 stitches becoming too tight.

Of course if you have more needles in work, you will need more weights across the material.

For the Top and Bottom borders, you transfer all the stitches down to the ribber bed (except the 1st and last stitch). See photo below.

Then push the carriage to the right to knit the row.

With the carriage on the right, you will transfer all the ribber stitches to the Main Bed. (all the stitches will be on the Main Bed)

Then push the carriage to the left to knit the row.

Continue to do these 2 rows to the desired number of garter stitch rows you need. These 2 rows make 1 garter stitch ridge (as in hand knitting).Now we’re ready to do just the side borders with a stockinet stitch center.

1st stitch on Left and Last stitch on the Right stay on

the Main Bed.

Now that the bottom border is finished, let’s continue with the side borders.

I usually have a 4 or 5 stitch side border. Again leave the 1st and last stiches on the Main bed while knitting the rest of the scarf or afghan.

I always start my counting of needles (or stitches) from the left side of the bed to the right side of the bed.

With the carriage on the left, transfer the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th stitches to the ribber. Leave the rest of the stitches on the main bed until you get to the last 4 stitches. As you come to them from the left, transfer the 1st , 2nd and 3rd stitches to the ribber. (leave the last one on the main bed)

See photo below.

Knit the row to the right.

Transfer all ribber stitches to the main bed and knit to the left.

Continue in this manner until the length desired.

Then repeat the garter stitches all the way across, in the same manner as you did the bottom border, to do the top border. Bind off.

All of these scarves are made in the same manner as described above.

That’s all there is to making garter stitch on the knitting machine with a ribber.

BUT…..You are not limited to just doing borders with this technique. You can also do designs in purl stitches with the background in stockinet stitch.

I hope you have enjoyed this small tutorial. I hope you understand what I am trying to say and show.

Eventually, if I can find my video camera, I will do a video showing how to do this technique in action.

If you need further help, do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks……Don