Spit-splicing is one of, if not my very favorite technique in knitting. It isn't for all yarns, however. Spit-splicing is appropriate for wool yarns of at least 75% wool content. It is NOT appropriate for:
1. Superwash wool
2. Cottons, linens, acrylics.
Here's how it goes:
Whether intentional or not, you have two ends of yarn. This happens to be a Cascade knitting worsted weight yarn with 4 plies, or strands of yarn twisted together.
Tease out approximately, but not perfectly, about equal lengths of 2 plies. I do mean "tease," because you want some of the fluffy stuff to help the yarn adhere.
Overlap the ends, again approximately. Some like to try and twist the ends together, which is probably fine. I've never found any need to do that.
Now, here's the tricky part: You lay the overlapped ends across your hand and spit on it. I suppose those faint hearts who can't bring themselves to spit might use water, but I consider that a bit sissy. You get the yarn nice and wet with spit, then you gently rub it back and forth between your hands, generating both friction and heat, until you have a nice, continuous piece of yarn that looks like this:
You will have a continuous yarn, and the place where you spliced it will not show.
This is the part where I get to tell you once again, the thrilling anecdote of my son's cardigan. I made him a lovely cardigan
of Lamb's Pride Worsted. I wound up having to re-do the fronts a couple of years afterwards, and I knew that I'd extensively spit-spliced the left front. When I ripped it out, I could not find the splices, and even tugging on the yarn did not cause it to come apart. I was astonished.
If one is a devotee of Shetland wool, splicing will be even more secure, and the insides of your sweaters will be a joy and delight, rather than a melange of yarn ends to bury.
I know one woman who splices when doing Fair Isle. It works to an extent, let us say. It produces a slightly more ambiguous color change than might always be desirable, but it works.
If you simply can't spit, go to your pharmacy and purchase a bottle of that lovely artificial spit. It should work very well. Just be sure it doesn't have any sugar in it, to attract beasties.
Good knitting,
MEM
Copyright and all rights reserved to Mary English Morrison a/k/a/ The Little Yarn Shoppe of Horrors, 2005
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