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 main difference between KG88 and KG88II is that the carriage direction lever for the Brother KG88II has an arrow with swiggles next to it (for cast-on): KG88 has only two arrows pointing left and right.

Other garter carriages are Brother KG88, KG89, KG89II, KG92, KG93, and KG95.

The difference between KH88II and KG 89II is that setup for the KG88II comes with garter carriage rail racks to attach to the machines that do not have those: namely, KH836, KH860 (although I have seen some KH860 machines have them already), KH881 and KH910 (maybe other models too but the manual only mentions these models. I would personally assume all Brother models without garter carriage rails, especially those that have the right pin/hole combo (refer to the manual for that)).

The manual states that KH88II should only be used upto the maximum 190 needles on the needlebed. In particular, 95 on the left and 96 on the right from the zero (middle of the needlebed).

Depending on on the machine, certain color trippers should be used as well (refer to the manual). There are especially many various instructions on using KG88II on KH910 machine.

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
• comes with garter rails to attach to the machines that do not have them already built-in

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 Brother knitting machines with punchcards and electronic ones but for some models it require modifications (either installation of rails or replacement of rails to those include with the KG88II).
• cannot knit on the full bed: only on 95 needles in each direction (total 190 needles)