Brother garter carriages are the only add-on carriages that works on their own: once plugged-in, it can knit alternating purl and knit stitches. Only Brother Co. manufactured such carriages. When facing the fabric while it is on the machine, we typically see purl stitches. Those are knitted by the needles on the needlebed when the Garter carriage is activated. The stitches that face us as “knit” ones are knitted by the garter carriage needle.

The difference between KG89II and KG88II is that setup for the KG88II comes with garter carriage rail racks to attach to the machines that do not have those. Brother KG-89II can be used with all knitting machines that come with built-in garter rails.

The different between Brother KG89II and KG89 is that KG89II has a built-in cast-on option and KG89 does not.

PROS:

• HUGE advantage is working on its own once programmed and plugged in.
• knits and purl stitches in the same row.
• can be adapted to two-color/plating version
• can knit yarns a bit thicker than the standard-gauge machine can
• Has automatic cast on and cast off

CONS:

• Garter carriages are very temperamental.
• a lot of maintenance is required: cleaning after each use, oiling, correct yarn selection, etc.
• can only be used on standard-gauge machines
• fits almost all electronic Brother knitting machines and some punchcard machines