Cables were not designed for cushions. They were designed for survival.
On the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland, fishermen wore densely knitted wool sweaters into conditions that were cold, wet, and unforgiving. The cable stitch, yarn crossing over yarn in thick twisted columns, created a fabric denser and warmer than any flat knit could manage. The beauty was incidental. The insulation was the point.
The oft-repeated story that each family knitted its own cable pattern to identify drowned fishermen is almost certainly myth, a romantic addition with no solid historical evidence.
