In the 1940’s knitting book I came across, there are some interesting little glimpses into the world of wool which not being a knitter, I never would have known!
According to an old story, the cable was invented by the women of the fishing villages when knitting guernseys for their men. The cable is an attempt to copy the pattern of the ropes which play so important a part in the life of a fisherman. Not only are they part of the tackle of his boat, and of his fishing gear, but they are to him a symbol of life itself; for a rope thrown to a sinking man, or the ropes which the fisherman clings to prevent him being swept overboard in a storm, are truly called “life line.” No wonder the women folk of these fishermen wanted to weave the pattern of the rope into the clothes the men wore.
As time went on, the cable patterns grew more elaborate, and the village or sometimes even the family, had a design of its own, so that you could tell by the pattern of his guernsey from where a man came.
This is the story of how the cable stitch originated. Now, if you are interested enough, you can make up your own particular design if you know the basic process by which the cable is formed. It is made by the twisting and knitting out or order od two or more stitches.
This little passage doesn’t mention another story I have heard, that the reason for the individual designs was to identify to whom the guernsey belonged – in case it was lost, or in case its owner was lost, washed overboard – when his body was found he could be identified by his guernsey.
Lois Elsden 
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