There are a pair of maps on the wall in the front office at Erlbacher Gear & Machine Works in Cape Girardeau. One is a map of the United States. The other a map of the world. Both are adorned with ...

In a workshop that’s a refuge from the world, Dorothea Campbell uses her hands. Her right hand turns a crank, or manipulates dozens of needles arranged in a circle. With her left, she holds tightly to ...

OLIVE TOWNSHIP -- The first time our paths crossed, Mike Bronkema was sporting an Olive Township Fire Rescue T-shirt and knitting a pink sock on a hand-crank antique circular sock knitting machine. We ...

LEWISBURG — Issac Lamb invented the first domestic knitting machine in 1863 to make mittens and gloves. A few years later he purchased rights from Mr. Tuttle for his idea of mechanically knitting in a ...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been corrected to reflect David Erlbacher had the first patent for the Gearhart sock knitting machine in more than 85 years. A family-run machine shop in south Cape ...

RACINE — Forty-five people from seven states gathered last week at First United Methodist Church to knit as part of the first Antique Circular Sock Machine Conference in Southeast Wisconsin. The crank ...

Blake Harris' hand crank sock machine clicks and bangs as he churns out colourful works. "As fast as I can crank the handle, it can knit for me," Harris told CBC's Information Morning. Harris makes ...

ROCKFORD (WREX) — When you think of Rockford, you may not think about socks or knitting, but during the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, those two things helped the city grow. Sock monkeys may not ...