Circular knitting

[2][3] Specialized knitting machines for sock-knitting use individual latch-hook needles to make each stitch in a round frame.

Planned openings (arm holes, necks, cardigan fronts) are temporarily knitted with extra stitches, reinforced if necessary.

Invented by Sarah Hauschka and first described in Beverly Galeskas’s booklet The Magic Loop, this technique uses a long circular knitting needle[6] (for instance 40 inches) to knit projects (of any circumference substantially less than the needle length) in the round.

[7] The magic loop technique also allows knitting two-at-a-time projects like pairs of socks or the sleeves of sweaters.

A variant automates the stitching action, thus producing a hand-crank circular knitting machine.