The Age of "Foreign Socks"

More than 50 years ago, the socks I wore were made by my grandmother herself out of white coarse cloth. Such socks do not have any elasticity. They are not suitable for wearing. They are definitely uncomfortable. However, there was no comparison at that time, thinking that socks should be like this.

 

In the early 1960 s, in front of the Chenghuang Temple at the east end of Chengfang Street in Taiyuan, a master of a hand-cranked hosiery knitting machine came to knit socks with a cotton thread processing machine. People call this kind of woven socks "foreign socks". The hand-cranked hosiery knitting machine was very interesting to see. The sock maker skillfully stuck the hosiery knitting machine on the edge of the table. The table fixed several wooden loops covered with cotton thread, pulled out the thread ends, passed through the circular iron hooks above the loom, and connected them to the circular machine needles in double rows inside and outside. Shake the turning handle with one hand and pull out the cotton thread from the loop one by one into the needle. Two rows of machine needles staggered up and down. With the sound of "Gada, Gada", a sock fell slowly from under the sock knitting machine. In order to straighten it, a waste weight should be hung under the sock. When turning to knit the heel, the sock maker used a comb-like tool to pick up some of the machine needles and then pressed the other