Git Stash & Worktree Woes

I'm having difficulty getting Git to cooperate with my user-defined worktree that exists outside the folder that contains my .git directory. Basically the setup is like this: I have two directories, one called "git-worktree" which houses the file I want to track & another called "git-dir" which contains the repository's .git folder aka the GIT_DIR. I init the repository by cd'ing into folder "git-dir" and running: ``` git --git-dir=./.git --work-tree=/Users/braitsch/Test/git-worktree/ init ``` This successfully initializes the repository and while I'm in the "git-dir" folder I can add files that are in the work-tree, run git status and commit them. Cool. The kick comes when I try to run `git stash`, which slaps me with the error: ``` fatal: /usr/local/git/libexec/git-core/git-stash cannot be used without a working tree. ``` Now this is nonsense, because I know (or at least I think) I have the work-tree set to the "git-worktree" folder that contains the files I want to track. `git config --local -l` shows me the following : ``` core.repositoryformatversion=0 core.filemode=true core.bare=false core.logallrefupdates=true core.worktree=/Users/braitsch/Test/git-worktree core.ignorecase=true ``` I even tried manually adding the .git folder to the local config file to see if that helps but to no avail. ``` core.gitdir=/Users/braitsch/Test/git-dir/.git ``` Now here comes the kicker. Git stash will work if I set the worktree to a directory that is a parent of the git-dir e.g. If I set the worktree to say my home directory. ``` core.worktree=/Users/braitsch/ ``` So the question I have is what setting am I missing to tell Git to allow my worktree to exist anywhere on the filesystem, not just along a parent path of the git-dir back up to the root? Surely there must be a way to place your git-dir & your work-tree wherever you want and after telling Git where they are, and have everything work?