"Smarty", the Inkle Guardian Sheep

I have been making progress on my inke weaving. I’m in pause mode right now as I allow a friend to use my inkle loom for a bit.

I can create about an 8-foot long inkle band on my Schacht inkle loom. That’s more than enough length for my planned dog leashes. So, I’ve decided that with each band I will make a dog leash and a bookmark. Yesterday I took a picture of my bookmarks to date:


For some reason, I was compelled to put a little sheep in the picture. This particular sheep was a gift from my sister, Meg. When I looked at this picture this morning, two thoughts popped into my head: 1) It kinda looks to me like the sheep is guarding the inkle bands, and 2) the sheep should be named “Smarty”.

I love it when things just pop into my head: creativity with no effort! I have no idea where the idea for “Smarty” came from….

But, I suspect that the “guarding” thought occurred because of a recent discussion thread on the Yahoo group, Spin-List. Lately, there has been a lot of discussion about Livestock Guardian Dogs. I have found this discussion very informative and very fascinating. I don’t own livestock; I don’t own a guardian dog; but I do like the idea of a quadruped guardian helper.

Anyway, the sheep in the picture will now and forevermore be known as “Smarty”, the Inkle Guardian Sheep.