here , take your thumb and dip it , so ... '' and so he and ian-who , it turned out , could also knit and was prostrated by mirth at my lack of knowledge-had taught me the simple basics of knit and purl , explaining , between snorts of derision over my efforts , that in the highlands all boys were routinely taught to knit , that being a useful occupation well suited to the long idle hours of herding sheep or cattle on the shielings .