Put that on your needles and knit it

Does anyone know where the phrase "stick to your knitting" came from and what it means?? Thanks Guy Andrews
It sounds very much like a chauvinistic reprimand, such as, I will decide what will be said or done, and while you may think you have something to contribute, just "stick to your knitting." A very outdated view of man/woman related responsibilities is suggested but I have no idea of the origin.

I was looking up "put that in your pipe and smoke it" (see above) and found: "put that on your needles and knit it!" The reference says: "This forms the feminine counterpart of - or rather, complement to - put that in your pipe and smoke it!: latish 19C-20..." From Dictionary of Catch Phrases: American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day by Eric Partridge, updated and edited by Paul Beal, Scarborough House, Lanham, Md., 1992)