Hey, I resemble that remark!
It might surprise you to know that I am a middle-aged man who happens to knit but I nevertheless use the "knitting" metaphor as a well-understood term, in certain parts of the so-called planet "Earth", of opprobrium.
Doing so implies most emphatically that partipants in this forum who doubt Mr. Bates's capacity for crafty skullduggery and wily endeavours are nothing more than mild-mannered milquetoasts (another great expression!) from the dreary conventional suburbs who know nothing of surviving on one's wits. Thus, to be lambasted (I'm on a roll here, folks!) with the term "knitter" is not to be denigrated on the basis of gender, but on the basis of merit, verve and moxie.
[Nice try - trying to hoist me onto my own petard. (What's a 'petard', anyway?)]