The Garter Bar

In my last post told you about the conundrum over whether to follow the pattern’s instructions or go with what I’ve learned in garment sewing. The pattern’s instructions needed to be altered to fit me. The front doesn’t need usually need darts, just a side seam decrease and the back needs short darts, maybe two sets. I sure wish the pattern gave a final waistband measurement! Maybe I can “guesstimate”. However it will effect my alterations in that I don’t be taking out as much from the front waistline. Uh-oh, could be trouble…but I haven’t gotten there yet.

I decided to decrease one stitch at each edge or side every 8 rows per the pattern’s instructions, but not to make the proposed long darts in the front panel until I had decreased 3 times each side every 8 rows. Rememver, we’re knitting from the bottom of the skirt body, up to the waistband. On the 4th round of 8 rows I reverted back to the instructions and started the front darts. To form a dart from the bottom up one stitch is moved over away from the center to it’s neighboring needle. The result was needle #50 empty and needles 51-06 needed to be moved back over into the body of the skirt.

The quick way: use the garter bar. The pattern tells you to. OK.

I didn’t know how to use these things. They come in varying lengths and the instructions are in Japanese so I went to the Knitters Edge
again and found the instructions under “Techniques”.

Basically , the needles are all pulled forward and the knitting pushed back so that the stitches fall behind the latches of the needles. Then the garter bar is carefully placed into the hooks of the needles and the stitches are pulled forward, closing the latches, and then pulled down onto the prongs of the garter bar.

Click on this picture to make it bigger, then use your back button to come back here. Pulling the stitches down over the closed latch and onto the prongs was hard to do so I grabbed this tool to help me.

I don’t know what this tool is called. It came with one of the machines but it proved very good at pulling the stitches down from the needles onto the teeth of the garter bar.

I must say the Knitter’s Edge instructions are clearly written. The proof of their efficacy: Here the stitches have been moved over and are being put back onto the needles.

All 45 stitches safely moved over one needle and all at one time. The shortened darts are begun!

I’m quite satisfied.

The garter bar is an exciting tool. I’ll share more about what it can do as I try each new thing.