Haha. Ya, I had to do that a couple times before I started making my own boards. I still have some examples of it on the shelf somewhere. My suggestion is to bend every second leg up. You can then solder wires to each leg and they are spaced out better; not as close to each other.
As for where to do it, get a clamp thing. I have no idea what they call it, but the standard electronics tool that clamps on to your work with 2 small aligator clamps and has a heavy base.
You can also use ribbon cable. I've done that a couple times when the spacing is correct. Strip a small amount of insulation off the end of the ribbon cable, exposing the wires. Solder the whole thing onto the legs of the IC. The you can seperate the ribbon cable wires farther down and solder them where they are needed.