As a child, I always loved the myth of the little mermaid. Of course, I loved the Disney version, but what really called to me were the murky, complex depths of the original story. I wanted to design a piece that spoke to this, with twisting, arrhythmic, sinuous cables and subtle lace like the seaweed and bracken that twines and swirls along the ocean floor.

I decided to name the cowl Chambers of the Sea, from TS Eliot’s Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
with sea girls wreathed in seaweed red and brown
’til human voices wake us, and we drown.

Finished Measurements
8 3⁄4” wide, 42 3⁄4” circumference

Yarn
Sporty Opal by The Woolen Rabbit (75% merino/15% silk/10% cashmere; 270 yds/4 oz): 1 skein in Under the Sea

Needles
1 US 5 3.75 mm 32” circular needle (circ)
or size needed to obtain gauge

Notions
Cable needle, waste yarn for provisional CO, spare needle for 3 needle BO, tapestry needle

Gauge
22 sts and 27 rows = 4” 10 cm in Chart, after lace-blocking

Many thanks to Carrie Bostick Hoge for her beautiful photography, Whitney Hayward for modeling, and Jen Arnall-Culliford for tech editing!