966-about-on-socks is a 4-person passing pattern with 9 clubs, where every juggler should be able to pass 7 clubs in 3-count with double passes.
The Base Pattern for two jugglers
966 is a 4-handed siteswap also known as 7-club 3-count. Both jugglers are throwing floaty double passes (4.5 P) as every third throw and two selfs in-between. One of them is crossing, the other one is throwing straight passes.
If you are 3 jugglers who can do 4-handed siteswaps and you like walking patterns, you can take just one extra club to create a nice new pattern. Several patterns have been juggled this way, as you can see here for example. Last year at the convention in Halle, Lukas came up with the idea of doing this in 7-club 3-count.
The 3-person pattern: 966-about
Let the third person who is standing behind you catch the passes flying towards you. As soon as you are left with two clubs, carry a club to where you would have thrown your next pass. Afterwards, stand behind the juggler you brought the club to and catch the next pass, which is flying to the other-hand side (where you didn’t bring the club to). When you receive the next pass, you start juggling with: self, self, pass. Throw this pass to the hand to which the new walking juggler didn’t carry a club.
I would not call 966-about a take-out pattern because there are no substitutes and no self take-outs.
the 4-person pattern: 966-about-on-socks
If you are doing this pattern on socks, person number four is entering the pattern after the carry. The person who did the carry walks “on socks” around the juggler who received the carry and then back to the other side again. There he or she reenters the pattern instead of the next one who did a carry.