element position detected signals s2 and signals generated by commands s3 1 s3 2 s3 n for positioning the moving elements 4 1 4 2 4 n which are synchronized with the periodic signals s5 and s6 of the main shaft of the knitting machine are transmitted by the pulse motor driving circuits 21 1 21 2 21 n further as a known method for controlling the position of the pulse motor there is a method of guaranteeing the prevention of step out during startup and positioning to a target position by generating slow up and slow down pulses however this slow up and slow down method cannot guarantee 100 accuracy due to the fluctuation of load and external noise even if a safety factor is increased the present embodiment is adapted to carry out the positioning reliably in the shortest time using a control method explained in detail below referencing fig6 and 7 fig6 shows a relationship between the output signals of the magnetostrictive absolute sensor and the poles of the stator 18 in the present embodiment the pitch of the pole of the stator 18 corresponds to four gages and there are four ways of positioning positions of ga1 ga2 ga3 and ga4 in the present embodiment the position detecting circuit is designed so as to detect the position in unit of 1 8 of the movement of one gage 1 411 mm from ga1 to ga2 when the span.