The tall, skinny cables in this cowl resemble the crack in the wall through which the lovers Pyramus and Thisbe communicated. The length of the cowl provides warmth as well as a nice drape so it can be worn comfortably. The pattern is both fully written out and charted, so you can use whichever type of directions works best for you. The Pyramus Beret is a matching hat pattern.

Yarn
Malabrigo Arroyo (100% superwash Merino wool, 335 yds/306 m per 100 g); 1 skein; sample uses colorway Reflecting Pool; or 300 yds (274 m) of another sport weight yarn

Materials
US 6 (4 mm) 24” (60 cm) circular needle, or size needed to obtain gauge
Cable needle
Stitch marker

Gauge
22 stitches and 40 rounds over 4” (10 cm) in stockinette in the round, blocked

Finished Measurements
29” (73.5 cm) circumference and 6.5” (16.5 cm) tall

Skill Level: Advanced Beginner
Skills needed: knitting in the round, working cables

Thank You
Thank you to my test knitters (affenhaus65, CrazierThanMyCat, acsparky89, tutuknit, and nicemrsharris) who provided valuable feedback. And thank you to the women of Stitch Definition, who provided photography (Anne Podlesak), tech editing (Maureen Hannon), and graphic design/layout (Elizabeth Green Musselman).

About the Pattern Name
The source for the story of Pyramus and Thisbe seems to be Ovid’s Metamorphosis, but a number of authors have chosen to tell this story over the years, especially during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, including Boccaccio, Chaucer, Gower, and Shakespeare. It is a tale of doomed lovers and was often used as a cautionary story, although with Shakespeare, it is given almost a comical turn as the play put on by the bumbling amateurs in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Similar to Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare likely based that story off Pyramus and Thisbe as well), the parents of the two lovers hated one another and refused to allow their children to wed, much less even speak to one another. That did not stop the two lovers; their houses were next door to one another and they found a small crack in the wall between their houses through which they could speak, pass notes, and even touch fingers.

They decide to defy their parents and run away together, agreeing to meet beneath a tree outside of town. Thisbe is the first to arrive. But she comes upon a lion who has just made a kill and whose mouth is still bloody, so she flees the scene. But her scarf falls off as she flees, and the lion rips the scarf, getting blood on it in the process.

Enter Pyramus. He finds Thisbe’s scarf with the blood as well as the tracks of the lion. Thinking she has been attacked and killed by a wild animal, he kills himself by falling on his sword. Thisbe returns to find her lover dead and thus uses his sword to kill herself.

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