My Life In Yarn: Ruth Petermann

Ruth Petermann from Mendota Heights, MN

What is your favorite Lion Brand Yarn?

Wool-Ease! I was only introduced to it about 6-7 years ago, but it has become my favorite for so many things. Being up in the northern part of the country, I have an appreciation for the warmth of wool. When the temperature drops below 0, you can feel the difference between wool and other fibers in under five minutes. The drawbacks of wool are that it usually requires extra care and is often scratchy. Wool-Ease has the warmth of wool, the easy-care of acrylic with such a wonderful texture and feel! (Maybe had something to do with the name?) I was thrilled to see it come out in the new color of the season – Succulent!

What brought you to yarn (knitting/crochet)?

I’ve adored yarn as long as I can remember, but fell from away “yarn arts” for a couple of decades. My interest was renewed when a friend and I were exploring a small town. We walked into a knitting shop, and thanks to an amazingly inspiring shop owner, walked out two hours later with borrowed knitting needles, a $10 skein of ladder yarn (quite an investment for 18 years ago!) and a scarf well under way.

Do you remember who taught you how to knit/crochet? Tell us a bit about how you learned.

My mother taught me to knit when I was about five, but being five, it didn’t take very well. Crocheting was a more natural fit and around the age of 10 I taught myself to crochet granny squares, because it was a trendy thing at the time.

What is your favorite thing to make?

Scarves, hats, cowls, baby blankets, afghans, mittens and things that don’t require much concentration and can be easily picked up and put down. Mobile projects not requiring constant reference to a pattern are a great alternative to constantly being on my cell phone whenever I have a few minutes. I always have a project in a bag for whenever I run out the door or that stays in my car since I am constantly on the go for my job. I save up finished projects all year and let family and friends pick something out of the stash for Christmas. It’s fun to occasionally take on a more complicated project or learn a new technique, but my time to spend purely concentrating on a knitting/crochet project is limited.

Do you have a favorite stitch/pattern?

At this moment my favorite is the LB Bunny Buddy Blankie pattern. I have lots of friends having grandchildren, and it whips up easily in a variety of yarns and is always a hit!

What’s the first project you finished?

Probably a scarf, but I have a vivid memory as a child of making a pair of mittens with the wrong size weight of yarn for the size of needles. (At that time, I thought yarn was yarn and needles were needles – no variety.) They looked something like balloons with thumbs and cuffs. My grandmother comforted me by saying that she was young, and made mittens of a similar shape, they were called “pumpkins”.

Why are you a fan of LBY products?

Oh my goodness! There are so many wonderful yarns with potential in every skein. I equate LBY to the jeans of my yarn wardrobe. Jeans are such a staple. They can be dressed up or dressed down but are a necessity. It may be nice to have something “fancy” on occasion, but I would never be without my jeans or LBY. Add to that the fabulous website with great patterns and they are winners every time.

Submit Your Story!

Want to submit your yarn story?! Learn how you can submit your My Life In Yarn story HERE or send an email (don’t forget to include a photo!) answering the above questions to: MLIY@lionbrandyarn.com