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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

This is the first of a two-part report. Fort Payne is filled with people who built entire lives around the sock mills. In a town of 13,000 people, there were more than 8,000 sock mill jobs just a few ...

For centuries, knitting has been a beloved pastime. Technological advancements, particularly in the form of knitting machines, have significantly simplified the process of crafting complex patterns ...

Yes, you read that right– not benchy, but beanie, as in the hat. A toque, for those of us under the Maple Leaf. It’s not 3D printed, either, except perhaps by the loosest definition of the word: it is ...

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 ...