At Ruhama's, New Friendships Form Around Age-Old Hobbies

In the repetitive pattern her fingers establish for the yarn, with the soft clap of the needles keeping time, Dawn Slugg slips into a different world while she knits.

“You might think that after doing this all day for 30 years, you can’t go home and do it, too,” Slugg, who has owned Ruhama’s Yarn and Needlepoint since 1981, said. “But it is what I do when I go home. It’s my rest and relaxation.”

Ruhama’s, established in 1960 and in its current location on Silver Spring Drive since 1963, has remained relevant by adapting to everchanging fashions while at its core relying on the enduring value of a time-honored tradition.

Though many similar stores have gone out of business in the area, Ruhama's now stands as one of the largest of its kind in the country and attracts customers from Chicago and the Twin Cities.

Through it all, Slugg often reflects on the woman who came before her: Ruhama Weiner. A stack of patterns Weiner designed has been neatly preserved in Slugg’s office, a reminder of her delicate place in a long history.   

Slugg worked for Weiner for a few months before buying the business from her. She said Weiner had a stern demeanor that came from a strong devotion to the store’s success. 

When Weiner announced her plan to retire, Slugg expected to be laughed at when she brought Weiner her idea to save the store.

“When she said yes, she would sell it to me, I couldn’t believe it,” Slugg said. “It does show something. She would have thrown me out of here before selling if she didn’t think I was going to make it.”

Make it, she did.

The toughest transition Slugg recalls was forgoing the fabric industry.

When Slugg took the helm at Ruhama’s, fabric was as essential to the store as yarn. While today many of Slugg’s customers are looking for a hobby, at that time many people sewed clothing in order to save money. 

However, Slugg said, as manufactured clothing became cheaper and women in particular spent more time in workplaces, sewing became less of a practicality and more of a dated craft.

“Everybody started having sales constantly, so it made sense to buy clothes ready-made instead,” she said.

When the fabrics went out, needlepoint came in, offering a warm-season counterpart to heavier knitting projects.

Though it’s also common to find knitted and crocheted products at lower prices than the material it takes to produce them, Slugg said the crafts have endured for their more recreational qualities.  

“Anybody who is a sewer will tell you that when you sit down at the end of a work day, you don’t feel like sewing,” Slugg said.

For Slugg, knitting is never work.

In a world increasingly dominated by electronic entertainment, something about using your hands and gathering over a project can be innately satisfying, Slugg said.

"Your hands are busy, and you have to sort of pay attention, but you just get into a rhythm and it’s soothing. It kind of takes your mind off of whatever problem you may have," she said. "It's good to see people taking that little bit of time for themselves."

For some it becomes therapeutic, as they work their worries out through their fingers, into a personal product. It's conducive to socialization, too, Slugg said.

"I’ve been through so much with so many of the customers here," she said. "Some of my very dearest friends are people I met here."

On Monday afternoon, three women sat at a table in the front of the store.

“So you’re going to do five stitches, and leave five spaces,” Anita Braden, who works at Ruhama’s, told two students in her Intro to Crochet class. Ruhama's offers classes about four times a week on different patterns, from sleigh-ride cardigans to flip-top mittens.

Linda Taylor Robertson, a student in the Intro to Crochet class, said she came because she wants to be able to crochet an afghan for her baby granddaughter.

“There’s nothing like homemade,” she said. “Always in the fall I get in the mood for making something.”

Slugg said she forsees many falls to come at Ruhama's. Though she said retirement is on her horizon, she wants to find someone to take over the store with the same drive that Weiner saw in her.

"Hopefully someone else will come along with the passion for it I have had all these years," Slugg said.