How to Make a Spit Splice

Wouldn’t it be nice to add a new ball of yarn to your project without having to weave in those extra ends? What if I told you that spitting on your yarn can help? In this video, Brenda K. B. Anderson shows you how to work the spit splice, otherwise known as a felted join to fuse pieces of yarn together. This technique only works with a yarn that is felt-able. Animal fibers like wool or alpaca work great as long as they are not treated to be a “superwash” yarn. The spit splice works well for any yarn weight. It is especially beneficial to use when working with a super bulky yarn—it can be very difficult to hide your ends when weaving them in, and this eliminates the need to weave in any yarn tails!

Brenda shows us two methods for joining pieces together. In the first version, she breaks the yarn, frays the end a bit, and spreads out the fibers into a “fuzzy pancake.” She repeats the process for the opposite end, and they lays one piece on top of the other. She arranges the ends so that they interlock where they come together. This helps the yarn ends “mix” when felted. Brenda then wets her yarn and hands slightly with water (many people use spit instead) and rubs the overlapping ends together vigorously between the palms of her hands until they felt together.

The next method begins in a similar way, by fraying the ends of the yarn. Brenda crosses these ends over each other in an X shape and then connects the frayed ends each to the same strand they are from, but makes sure that the two pieces of yarn are linking around each other when this is done. Again, she adds a bit of water to the frayed yarn ends and rubs each of them vigorously between her hands to felt the pieces in place.

Brenda shows us that the join between pieces is quite strong for each method and points out that it will be even stronger when the strands heave been crocheted. This is not only a seamless technique for adding a new ball when you run out, but it is also an excellent way to string all of your scraps together to make a gorgeous and unique ball of yarn. The best part, though, is that there are no ends to weave in later!