More than a sock maker, Campbell, 66, is an avid collector and restorer of circular sock-knitting machines, which were manufactured in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Kim Williams uses an Erlbacher knitting machine to knit a sock. It took more than a year and $35,000 to "reverse engineer" the Gearhart unit.

Or is its influence so incremental as to be invisible, like sock-making machines? If there were a list of the 50 most important artistic breakthroughs of all time, what would it include?

Socks made by these machines helped keep feet dry and prevent fungus and trench foot, which could kill a soldier.

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 ...