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 ...

3D printing socks isn’t really a thing yet. You’d end up with scratchy plastic garments that irritate your feet no end. You can easily 3D print all kinds of nifty little mechanisms, though, so why not ...

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 ...

CAPE GIRARDEAU — A family-run machine shop in south Cape Girardeau has been the unlikely center of a revival of the knitting machine industry. David "Pee Wee" Erlbacher has been a machinist for more ...