You can place a columns block within a column block. This means that you can have a theoretical infinite number of blocks in a row.
If bold brackets are the parent columns and non-bold are children columns , and assuming equal widths …
For 8 across – 2 columns with 4 columns in each.
[ [A] [B] [C] [D] ] [ [E] [F] [G] [H] ]
For 9 across – 3 columns with 3 columns each.
[ [A] [B] [C] ] [ [D] [E] [F] ] [ [H] [I] [J] ]
For 12 across – 2 columns with 6 columns each, or 3 columns with 4 columns each, or 4 columns with 3 columns each
[ [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] ] [ [G][H] [I] [J] [K] [L] ]
[ [A] [B] [C] [D] ] [ [E] [F] [G] [H] ] [ [I] [J] [K] [L] ]
[ [A] [B] [C] ] [ [D] [E] [F] ] [ [G] [H] [I] ] [ [J] [K] [L] ]
You can, of course, do all sorts of offsets or altered widths too. This can create more interesting layouts.
[ [A] ] [ [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] ]
[ [A] [B] [C] ] [ [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] ] [ [J] [K] [L] ]
Make sense?