Just a quick question- was there always knives because I've never noticed them before. I didn't know they could be weapons

They were rare in Vanilla but I think it was either DG or HF that added them to be more common loot.

there's fork and knife weapons since vanilla skyrim...try taking on a dragon with silverware

...
Now I wanna dual-wield a Knife and Fork, charging at a Dragon while screaming "I FEEL LIKE CHICKEN TONIGHT- LIKE CHICKEN TONIGHT!!!"