What is a Garter Bar?

Back to Page One of the Garter Bar directions
Back to The Studio
Back to the Workshop Index

A garter bar is a tool with many prongs, like a giant transfer tool, onto which you can remove all of the work from the knitting machine at once. It can then be used for turning the work around, for making decreases or increases across the work, or for holding the stitches until you need them again.

Turning the work around A garter bar allows you to turn all the work on the needles completely around so that the wrong side is now on the right side.

1. You can use it to make "purl ridges" on the right side of the fabric. You turn the fabric, knit one or two rows, maybe in a contrasting color, and then turn it back. You will have a line of raised accent stitches across the fabric. Click here to see some examples of purl ridges.

2. You can use it for a checkerboard effect. Knit X number of rows, turn the fabric, knit same number of rows again, turn etc. This often involves knitting two or more panels with the areas of knit and purl reversed so it looks like a checkerboard when seamed together. This is often used for baby blankets or Afghans so both sides look like the right side.

3. You can knit garter stitch ribbing with it. You pick up the stitches for the ribbing, knit one row, turn the fabric, knit another row, turn back, etc. The ribbing looks quite different from knit 1 purl 1 ribbing and maybe a little more "dressy"? Click here to see an example of garter stitch ribbing.

Making decreases or increases across the work Sometimes you need to decrease or increase many times all the way across a row. This would be very difficult without a garter bar because you would have to make many stitch transfers because stitches can't stretch very far.

1. You can use a garter bar to do many decreases across a row. For example, to make a round yoke sweater, the yoke is shaped by making many decreases all the way across the row several times. You can move the stitches over that are to be decreased, take everything off on the g-bar, then rehang the stitches (without turning the work) in sections moving them over to fill in the empty needles all across the row. Click here to see how decreases have been used to shape the yoke of a round yoke sweater.

2. You could also reverse this to make many increases across the row. You would rehang stitches from the garter bar leaving empty needles as desired and then fill in the empty needles with purl bumps from adjacent stitches.

Holding the stitches until you need them again You can use a garter bar to take off stitches without using waste yarn.

1. You could take off the shoulder stitches on a cardigan front on a garter bar, hang the appropriate side of the cardigan back shoulder onto needles, push the stitches behind the latches, then put the front stitches back on the needle bed directly from the garter bar ready for binding off.

2. You can take stitches for a pocket lining off on the garter bar without using waste yarn and then rehang them on the needles when they are needed.

Do you need a g-bar? You can do all of the things above by taking the work off on waste yarn, then rehanging the stitches out of the waste yarn. The garter bar can really speed up the process, however, and especially for the garter stitch ribbing.

Back to Page One of the Garter Bar directions
Back to The Studio