The "Novelty Pillows" series is the beginning of an exploration of ways to make attractive and quality contributions to home decor. These two pillows are available from Butter and Eggs in New York City.

The first pillows, made in January 2003, are in white merino wool lightly carded with brown buffalo fiber, which is wonderfully soft and lends definite "character" to the nubbly yarn. Each of the two pillows has a crocheted border of Blue-Faced Leicester* wool which closely matches the buffalo in color, and each is trimmed with beads in hand-carved bone, shell, wood, glass, and stone. The beads are strung on handspun wild (tussah) silk thread.

The "tall" pillow measures 12 inches by 16 inches, and its covering is basically a long "bag" folded down over the top of the pillow form inside. It was knitted in plain stockinette stitch. The cover weighs 6 ounces and used approximately 291 yards of two-ply yarn. The companion pillowcover, which is sewn around its filler, is 14 inches square, weighs about 4.5 ounces, and used about 218 yards of yarn. It was knitted in reverse stockinette

*Blue-Faced Leicester sheep were derived from the Border Leicester breed near Hexham in the county of Northumberland, England in the early 1900s. They're found primarily in northern England, Scotland, and Wales. The name comes from their "blue" face (white hairs on a black face). (from "Breeds of Livestock", Oklahoma State University, www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/sheep/).