Baby Patterns We do find it incredible hard to find out where knitting came from. Historic evidence of knitted pieces has been found in several countries such as Egypt, England, Holland and Scotland. Apparently, the earliest evidence of knitted clothing found were fragments of socks that were made in Egypt sometime after the death of Christ. Even this is argued the world over. Some even say that these socks were not knitted but were the result of nail binding (another fabric making technique). The first trade union devoted to knitting professionals was founded around the 1500s in France. It was originally a male-only occupation but soon became a household activity when knitted stockings became extremely popular. Apparently, by the late 1600's between one and two million of these knitted stockings were exported from Britain to various parts of Europe. Socks and stockings seem to be the earliest pieces of knitted clothing because this technique allowed for shaping the cloth to mould to the many angles of the foot. But this wasn't the only effective and creative use of hand knitting. According to one source I checked, "Legend has it that sailors wore sweaters with their family pattern knit into them so that their bodies could be identified if they died at sea.  While it's a morbid thing to think about, it is a notable application of the craft.