Knitted in the round and featuring creatures that inhabit the kelp forests, this is an easy pattern if you already know how to knit stranded colorwork and this pattern assumes that you do know how to knit stranded colorwork. If you have not knitted stranded colorwork before then this is an experienced level pattern.

Instructions are given for head sizes 18” (46 cm), 21” (53 cm), and 23” (58 cm) as follows 18”, (21”, 23”)
These correspond to child, small adult and medium-large adult sizes.

Fingering or sock weight yarn. Yarn used in the sample was Happy Sheep Magic Sock Wool.
OC: (ocean color), KC: (creature and kelp color)
Size 18” (46 cm), OC 80 yds (73 m), KC 32 yds (29 m)
Size 21” (53 cm), OC 106 yds (97 m), KC 40 yds (37 m)
Size 23” (58 cm), OC 125 yds (114 m), KC 44 yds (40 m)

Kelp forests are magical underwater forests inhabited by a myriad of creatures.
Kelp forests cover a quarter of the world’s coastlines, stretching from Antarctica to Australia, Mexico to Alaska, providing food and shelter for thousands of species, while sucking carbon from the atmosphere. But over the past decade, thanks to warming waters and overfishing, they’re disappearing.
The size of kelp forests off the coast of Northern California has shrunk by more than 95 percent since 2014.
Tasmania’s forests have decreased by 95 percent, as have Chile’s. Globally, kelp forests along coastlines have declined by a third over the past decade. There’s been a catastrophic loss and it’s been all but completely ignored.
The fate of the world’s kelp forests may depend on controlling its sworn enemy — purple sea urchins — that eat the roots of the kelp plants. A marine heat wave, along with a fast-spreading marine virus along the US West Coast, all but wiped out the sunflower sea star, the main predator of urchins. Estimates are that as many as 5.75 billion sunflower sea stars have died since 2013. The loss represents a 90.5 per cent decline.