Abstract: In order to meet the networking, modular, high-speed requirements of the development of computerized flat knitting machine, a control system of the carriage of flat knitting machine based on CAN bus was designed. Through analyzing feasibility of CAN multi-node communication，CAN network topology structure of the carriage control system was proposed , it used bus node priority scheduling method to improve the real-time property of CAN. According to loop mechanism, modular design was adopted. It made the control module be a CAN node in the CAN communication network. The CAN driver and the main programming based on commands parsing were presented. The results of the control system running indicated that it had a reliable communication, and easy scalability.