Learned Today: Felted Join

I've been working on a couple of non-blogable projects lately that are slated for magazines coming out in the Fall 2011 so that my blog has been a bit quiet

But, as with any project that I like to work on, I've learned a few new things along the way. Today, I will share with you my discovery of the "Felted Join".

One of my projects involved some super thick wool yarn. I have never before worked with super bulky yarn and was a bit worried about what to do when the time would come to weave in the ends from multiple balls... This would make for a very thick, not very attractive back side...

Before I got along too far, I went surfing on the web and soon found a great solution for my problem: the "Felted Join".

I could think of quite a few positive points about this join:

• Perfect for joining feltable yarn when adding a new ball
• It is super fast (~30 seconds)
• No bulk
• Nearly invisible
• No wasting of yarn

Wow, what more can you ask for?!

I've put together a couple of pictures to show you this great joining technique.

1) Two yarn ends that need to be joined.

This technique works only with feltable yarn (at least 30% - 50% animal fiber like wool, mohair, alpaca, etc.)

2) Split and fray yarn ends for about a 1/2 inch (max. 1 inch).

3) Stack the two frayed yarn ends so that the two 1/2 inch section lay on top of each other.

4) Wet the fiber by either wetting your fingers in a water glass and applying it to the ends or stick them quickly in your mouth to wet them.

5) Place the moist/wet frayed yarn ends on your palm, and

6) Rub your palms together to roll the yarn back and forth.

The heat from the friction together with the moisture will felt the frayed yarn ends together.

Tada! Your yarn ends have been permanently been bonded and this join will be pretty much invisible.


This technique came in very handy for my project and I highly suggest that you give it a shot too on your next project with bulky or thicker animal fiber yarn.



And if you have a non-feltable yarn, check out the "Russian Join". That sounds like a great solution for thick acrylics.

Happy Knitting!