Addicted to Wool

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? Psalm 18:30-31 (NIV)

If I weren’t raised in a strict, religious home, I could have ended up an alcoholic or an addict. Not that kids raised in strict, religious homes don’t sometimes turn out that way, but I was very sheltered. It’s a good thing that I never smoked, drank or chewed because I know that I have an addictive personality. When I was a teenager, I came home from a date and tore our kitchen up looking for a box of cookies my mom bought and my sister hid from me. When my kids were little, I drove to every McDonalds in our area until they had a complete set of Happy Meal miniature beanie babies. Not that four year old and nine year old boys cared a whit if they had the whole set. It was me, their compulsive, addictive mother who desired them. So, now that my friend, Vicki, also known as the felt fairy, has turned me on to felting, I have an obsession for wool sweaters. Not so I can wear them, but so I can put them in my washing machine in hot water and shrink them into felt. So, I can take a shortcut and make felt without beating, twisting and throwing the wool around. Not that I don’t need that sort of therapy, I just don’t have the time. I find myself haunting thrift stores in search of old wool sweaters. I have gotten so good at finding them that I don’t even have to read the labels. I can tell just from look and feel if they are 100% wool. I really ought to be shot because I just took a gorgeous men’s hand knit sweater from County Mayo, Ireland and shrunk it down to toddler size. But, like an addict with track lines on her arms, my new obsession is causing some problems in my life and in my relationships. Did you know that washing wool sweaters in your washing machine is hazardous to it? Did you know if you wash the wool fuzz off your fingers over the sink it clogs your garbage disposal? Did you know that when you wash wool sweaters in your washer everything else washed for days afterwards has wool on it? The felt fairy failed to tell me those little tidbits. I also had to learn from experience that sweaters with cable knit don’t felt as well as those with fine stitches. Remember that Irish sweater? After washing, it shrunk all right. Into a knotted lump of fuzz. That once gorgeous sweater made me think about how we often start out one direction thinking God’s plan for us is certain, only to find Him leading us down a path we had no intentions of going. We just have to remember that His way is certain, sure and perfectly designed. Think about that sweater. It won’t be starring in any Irish Spring commercials, but with work, it is going to make a lovely table runner for my mother.