knitting my own garters?

[piperdbh]

My question is this, could I simply make a flat 1" wide "belt" to use and add the decoration tassels to the ends or would I need to make a snake tube type to have enough stretch and durability?

The short answer is yes.
I think if I were knitting garters I would knit them sideways, i.e. on a circular needle, cast on however many stitches you need for the length of the garter, then knit until it's as wide as you want it, approx. 1 inch, then bind off. That should make it not so stretchy, which, to my mind, would be better than having them stretchy. I believe I'd also use as small needles (US 3 or smaller) and worsted weight yarn, so it'll be a really tight knit. That way it'll look more like it's woven, and hold up your kilt hose better.

If I were making the "Snakes" that Puffer describes, I'd use double-pointed needles, maybe two of them, and knit the garter in the round, with one alteration: I'd cast on half as many stitches as I wanted the finished tube to contain, then knit each stitch, but leave the cast-on stitch on the needle. That'll produce two needles with equal # of stitches on each, and you won't have to sew the end closed. When I got to the end of the garter, I'd work a three-needle bind-off, which is different from a regular bind-off only in that you knit a stitch from both needles at the same time, then pass the previous stitch over it.
I made a scarf this same way a few years ago, and it's really warm because it's two thicknesses thick, and it doesn't curl on the edges like flat knit does.
I hope this helps.