Endings and Beginnings: The Spit Splice

I spoke about those stray hairs that get worked into your knitting.  There's another way we can put ourselves--literally--into our work.

Have you ever run out of one ball of yarn and needed to attach another, right in the middle of a row?  Do you just tie a knot and keep on working?

There's a better way.

If you're working with a natural animal fiber such as wool (camel, alpaca, any critter that eats grass), you can use the spit splice, which calls upon that natural animal fiber's ability to make felt.  Basically, a spit splice is a miniature felting project.

Unravel an inch from each end you want to join together.  Choose one strand from each end.  Lay those two unraveled inches together side by side.  Now put that matched pair in your mouth and pretend it's a fuzzy peppermint.

When it's nice and soggy, transfer the joined pair from your mouth to your thigh.  Roll it with your hand to create the friction that will do the felting.  If your spit and your polish were adequate, you now have a single strand.  The other unraveled threads on each side can be twisted around this stable core and you can proceed with your knitting.

Too much trouble, you say?  Well, how fiddly is it to work in the loose ends of a knot?  One way or another, we're in for a bit of fuss when we run out and need to start anew.

Like births and funerals, weddings and divorces, endings and beginnings are always a little extra work.  Let's try to make them as neat as we can.