This is a reversible cowl with a skeletal horse galloping on one side and an optional quote hidden in the lining (which can also serve as a second cowl design).

The inspiration for this design is the Welsh winter wassailing tradition of Mari Lwyd, in which groups of men in fancy dress visit private houses and request entry through singing. One singer is dressed as Mari Lwyd, a skeleton horse. The costume is topped with a horse’s skull decorated with ribbons. The singers and householders trade songs and insults before the wassailers are allowed in and given food and drink. Mari Lwyd chases the householders and prances around, both terrifying people and spreading blessings (some say of fertility and rebirth) while Judy puts out the fire and sweeps the kitchen, symbolising renewal and a fresh start in the new year. Once the revellers have been suitably fed, they sing a final song, then move on to the next house.

The word chosen for the hidden message are taken from the poem: The Ballad of the Mari Lwyd by the Welsh poet Vernon Watkins. “Mari Lwyd, Horse of Frost, Star Horse and White Horse of the Sea, is carried to us. The Dead return.”

It is a colourwork cowl worked in the round using a 3-ply/superfine/fingering weight yarn.

You will need 2 colours - around 50 g/ 287 m/ 314 yards/ of each shade.

I used a 2.25 mm / US size 1 / UK 13 circular needle.

The finished cowl is 28 cm (11 inches) tall and 59 cm (23 inches) in circumference.