Russian Join

Today, I'm going to give you a tutorial on the Russian Join. A Russian Join is a way to start a new ball of yarn without weaving in ends!
The Russian Join is particularly helpful when:

• You are joining non-felting yarn (to use instead of a spit-splice)
• You are joining fine-weight yarn, such as fingering or lace weight
• You are conserving yarn - there's very little waste.

Keep in mind - the yarn will be slightly thicker where the join is, and may show, depending upon your stitch pattern. So far, I haven't had any unsightly effects using this join, and I use it frequently!

I'm using a regular tapestry needle & Cascade 220 yarn (worsted, 100% wool.) With finer yarn, I like to use a darning needle, which has a sharper point.

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Weave the tapestry needle in and out of the yarn - you'll be stitching the end of your strand of yarn back down into itself. For loosely-plied yarn, you should stitch at least a couple of inches. (Farther than I show here.)

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Pull the end of the strand through your stitches, forming a loop.

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Thread the new strand (pink for illustrative purposes) through the loop you just made.

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Stitch the yarn end back into itself as you did before.

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Pull the end of the strand through.

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Pull the ends of the yarn so that your loops close, but don't pull tight. You want the yarn to lay flat and not bunch up.

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Trim the ends close to the yarn join.

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Ta-da! Continue knitting or crocheting.

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After you have worked through this join, tug your fabric a bit lengthwise & width-wise. A couple of ends may poke out. Just trim them down, eventually they'll work to a resting place.


Thanks to Angelique, who originally showed me this technique. Miss you, Angelique!