Knitting is much older than it's cousin, crochet. 

The word Knit from the original Dutch Knutten (to knot) simply combines 2 pieces of thread into a piece of fabric.  Some of the earliest examples have been found dating to the 3rd-5th century Egypt.  

Here are some interesting articles on the Art of Knitting   History of Knitting Wikipedia  and Knitty.

We have listed vintage pattern books from such great yarn and design companies as Columbia Minerva, Spinnerin, Bear, Brunswick, Bernat, Doreen, Coats and Clark, Lily, Cynthia, McCall's Needlework, Vogue Knitting, Modern Needlecraft, Needle and Yarn and much, much more.

Remember!  Shipping is FREE in the US.

 Kniting patterns by type.  These are combined in hard copy books and in PDF files, so look closely at the title to see which format they are in.