How to Splice Wool for Knitting
Learning to splice wool yarn ends will cut down on the amount of time it takes to complete finishing work on your knitted wool items. Using the splicing technique to join new yarn as you work on a knitting project eliminates loose yarn ends, saving the time you ordinarily spend weaving pieces of yarn into the back of your knitted fabric. Splicing is easy to do, as long as you're using a non-superwash knitting yarn with a high wool content (at least 80 percent).
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Untwist the last inch of the working yarn, separating as many of the individual fibers as possible.
-
2
Untwist the first inch of the yarn you want to join to the working yarn. Make sure you separate the individual fibers.
-
-
3
Fan out the untwisted fibers at the end of each length of yarn.
-
4
Overlap the untwisted yarn ends and dampen them with a little spit (or a bit of water if you prefer).
-
5
Place the overlapped ends between the palms of your hands and vigorously rub your palms together.
-
6
Remove the overlapped yarn ends from between your palms and check the join. Gently pull at either end of the join, and if the fibers start to pull away from one another, dampen them with little more and continue rubbing.
-
7
Stop rubbing the yarn between your palms as soon as the fibers don't slide apart when you pull at either side of the join. When the fibers are secure in, you've created a successful join and can continue knitting.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Check the fiber content of your yarn before you try splicing. Make sure the yarn has a high wool content and you'll avoid the frustration that may arise from trying to splice fiber with a low wool content.
Although splicing works best on wool, you can also splice alpaca and other animal fibers with some success. In general, you can splice any fibers that will readily felt.
Splicing will not work for cotton, linen or silk yarns. It's also not effective on yarns made from acrylic and other man-made polymers.
