Didn't knitting start with men and sailors?
(You'd know)
They did it, but the origins of knitting is sort of lost in the medieval period. Seems to have started in the moslem countries in North Africa, moved into Spain, and spread across Europe.
At times, it was controlled somewhat by guilds, and then it was man's work.
As people switched from things like woven stockings to knitted stockings, it became more and more of a household thing. People knitted underwear, stockings, caps and mittens and fingerless mitts and bags, sometimes. In Scandinavia, I believe, they started knitting sweaters as outerwear fairly early, as did people connected to the sea...ganseys are developed sometime in the 18th century; like 18th century shirts, they have gussets in the armholes. By the end of the 19th century, sweaters were being worn by all sorts of people.