Spit 'n' Splice?

The instructor at a class at my LYS was talking about joining yarns and she
mentioned a "spit & splice" method. She didn't get to demonstrate it, we
ran out of time. I thought she was either kidding, or that I misunderstood
her, and maybe it was supposed to be "split & splice". But sure enough,
when I googled it, I found that there really is such a thing.

Have any of you ever tried it? Does it work? If I understand it, it's
basically separating the plies on the ends of two yarns, rubbing them
together with some moisture and having them sort of twist together. I can't
help but wonder if that really is going to hold after a wearing or a
washing.

Karen in MN

In article , "Karen"
wrote:

The instructor at a class at my LYS was talking about joining yarns and she
mentioned a "spit & splice" method. She didn't get to demonstrate it, we
ran out of time. I thought she was either kidding, or that I misunderstood
her, and maybe it was supposed to be "split & splice". But sure enough,
when I googled it, I found that there really is such a thing.

Have any of you ever tried it? Does it work? If I understand it, it's
basically separating the plies on the ends of two yarns, rubbing them
together with some moisture and having them sort of twist together. I can't
help but wonder if that really is going to hold after a wearing or a
washing.

Karen in MN

Karen it should work when you make the ends overlapping, long enough. You
must make sure that you first see what twist is in the singles. S or Z
twist. Z being clockwise and S being counter clock wise. You fray both
ends that need to be joined (I would as a spinner, over lap these ends and
with a bit of moister on my fingers (the spit LOL.....) twist them firmly
together in the same direction as the original singles. Then if it is a
ply twist them in the opposite direction and ply the new ends together. I
have never done this. I always over lap the new and the old end and knit
for 5 st together. Or even better start the new end at the edge of the
work and sew the ends in while sewing the garment together. When you make
a shawl, or scarf, I can see that doing a Russion joint, or spit and
splice might be nicer, since you want neat edges.

Els

--
I have added a trap for spammers......niet.....

I'm not fancy about it like Els is. I just frizz the ends of the two
strands, overlap a few inches, wet thoroughly (usually with water, but
I'm not above spitting to achieve the goal) and briskly rub the
overlap between my palms until it holds together. Once you knit over
the join it'll hang together fine even if the two ends don't felt
together 100%.

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 14:04:03 -0700, (Els van
Dam) wrote:

In article , "Karen"
wrote:

Karen it should work when you make the ends overlapping, long enough. You
must make sure that you first see what twist is in the singles. S or Z
twist. Z being clockwise and S being counter clock wise. You fray both
ends that need to be joined (I would as a spinner, over lap these ends and
with a bit of moister on my fingers (the spit LOL.....) twist them firmly
together in the same direction as the original singles. Then if it is a
ply twist them in the opposite direction and ply the new ends together. I
have never done this. I always over lap the new and the old end and knit
for 5 st together. Or even better start the new end at the edge of the
work and sew the ends in while sewing the garment together. When you make
a shawl, or scarf, I can see that doing a Russion joint, or spit and
splice might be nicer, since you want neat edges.

Els

Additional note - spit 'n splice works with *wool*. (ok, ok, or other animal
fibers that can felt slightly with spit and rubbing, even without having wool's
liddle barbs.) However, it's *not* a recommended method for yarns made of
cotton, rayon, acrylic, or any other vegetable/man-made fibers. Not unless it's
like, 80% wool or so.

Does work great with wool, though!

For other types of yarn, I use the method Jacqueline Fee recommends in her
book, 'The Sweater Workshop'. I overlap the ends of the old and new yarns, knit
two stitches with both held together, then drop the old strand and continue
working with the new. In the next row, just ignore the fact that those two
stitches have doubled strands of yarn - knit each as one stitch. The doubled
strands aren't usually noticeable, either.

I also merrily ignore ancient wisdom, and after knitting a few inches more, tug
at the loose ends as necessary to adjust the tension, then knot them together
with an overhand knot on the wrong side before weaving the ends in. No, I've
never had the knots pop out to the right-hand side of the garment when doing
this. Even with slippery rayons. Although, point to be made, I don't use really
fine yarns. (nor do I enter fairs or such where I might get judged badly for
that. g) With fine yarns, you might want to skip the knotting bit and just
weave those ends in really, really well as Els does. Of course, I always join
in a new ball of yarn at a side seam - or where a seam would be, if I didn't
usually knit in the round - and even if a knot did pop through, it'd probably
never be noticed on a galloping horse. As long as I'm not going to feel that
knot when I'm wearing said sweater, I don't care. g The point is, they stay
*put*, which is high on my list when I'm knitting with rayon ribbon or
something.

Monica (the slapdash. ::giggle:
CMMPDX2 at aol
remove 'eat.spam' to email me
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"No, that isn't me you saw - I'm not here, I'm incognito!" (Me, Myself & I)
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http://www.wtv-zone.com/kjsb/bataan.html

Thanks all, I just tried the "spit & splice" and it worked great! I
didn't think of it in terms of being similar to felting, but I guess it is.
I gave it some hard yanks, and it didn't come apart.


"SlinkyToy" wrote in message
...
I'm not fancy about it like Els is. I just frizz the ends of the two
strands, overlap a few inches, wet thoroughly (usually with water, but
I'm not above spitting to achieve the goal) and briskly rub the
overlap between my palms until it holds together. Once you knit over
the join it'll hang together fine even if the two ends don't felt
together 100%.

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 14:04:03 -0700, (Els van
Dam) wrote:

In article , "Karen"
wrote:

Karen it should work when you make the ends overlapping, long enough.
You
must make sure that you first see what twist is in the singles. S or Z
twist. Z being clockwise and S being counter clock wise. You fray both
ends that need to be joined (I would as a spinner, over lap these ends
and
with a bit of moister on my fingers (the spit LOL.....) twist them
firmly
together in the same direction as the original singles. Then if it is a
ply twist them in the opposite direction and ply the new ends together.
I
have never done this. I always over lap the new and the old end and knit
for 5 st together. Or even better start the new end at the edge of the
work and sew the ends in while sewing the garment together. When you
make
a shawl, or scarf, I can see that doing a Russion joint, or spit and
splice might be nicer, since you want neat edges.

Els