# How to Join a New Ball of Yarn Without Leaving a Gap

There's a small jolt of panic every knitter knows: you're cruising along on a row, and suddenly your yarn runs out with half a row still to go. What you do next determines whether that spot in your fabric disappears invisibly or turns into a loose, gappy eyesore you notice every time you wear the piece.

The good news is that joining a new ball of yarn is a skill, not a guessing game. Once you know a few reliable methods, you can pick the right one for your project and never dread running out of yarn again. Below, you'll find three tried-and-true techniques — the simple edge join, the Russian join, and the spit splice (also called a felted join) — along with guidance on when to reach for each one.

Why Knots Are the Enemy

It's tempting to just tie the old and new yarn together in a knot and keep going. Resist that urge. Knots sit as hard little lumps in your fabric, and because knitted fabric stretches, those knots have a way of working their way to the right side of the work over time. They can also come undone with wear and washing, especially in garments that see a lot of stress, like sweater sleeves or sock heels. The techniques below all avoid knots entirely, which is why they hold up better over the life of your project.

Plan the Join at the Edge Whenever You Can

The easiest way to avoid a visible join is to plan ahead so it never happens mid-row. Before you start a new row, check how much yarn is left. If you can loosely wrap the yarn around your project a few times and it doesn't reach across the row, it's time to start fresh yarn at the edge rather than risk running out in the middle. This single habit will save you more headaches than any splicing technique.

The Simple Edge Join, Step by Step

This is the method every knitter should have in their back pocket, especially for scarves, blankets, and other projects where the edge will be seamed, hemmed, or otherwise finished.

  1. Finish the row you're on so you're at the beginning of a new row, with your working yarn at the edge of the fabric.
  2. Drop the old yarn, leaving a tail of at least 6 inches.
  3. Pick up the new ball of yarn and leave a matching 6-inch tail.
  4. Insert your needle into the first stitch as usual and knit it using the new yarn, holding both tails against the back of the work with your fingers to keep tension even for the first stitch or two.
  5. Continue knitting normally. The two tails will hang at the edge of your work.
  6. Once your project is finished, weave in both tails separately along the edge using a tapestry needle, following the path of the stitches so the join blends invisibly into the seam or edge.

Because this join happens at the very edge of the fabric, any slight looseness gets absorbed into the seam allowance or edge finishing, so it never shows in the body of your knitting.

When You Need an Invisible Join Mid-Row

Sometimes you don't have the luxury of waiting for the edge — you're working in the round on a hat or sock, or you're deep into a lace pattern and don't want to interrupt the row. That's when a splicing technique earns its keep.

The Russian Join

The Russian join is the gold standard for a strong, nearly invisible join that can be made anywhere in your knitting, not just at the edges. It works especially well with plied yarns (yarns made of multiple twisted strands), which most wool and wool-blend yarns are.

Here's how to do it:

  1. Thread a blunt tapestry needle with the tail end of your working (old) yarn.
  2. Insert the needle back into the strand itself, running it through the core of the yarn for about 2 to 3 inches, so the needle travels inside the plies rather than beside them.
  3. Pull the needle all the way through, leaving a small loop of yarn where you first entered the strand.
  4. Thread your tapestry needle with the tail of the new ball of yarn.
  5. Pass this needle through that small loop you just created, then turn around and run the needle back into the plies of the new yarn itself, again for 2 to 3 inches.
  6. Pull the yarn through and gently tug both strands to smooth out the join and draw it snug.
  7. Trim any fuzzy ends close to the fabric.

You now have one continuous, spliced strand exactly where the two yarns overlap, with no tails to weave in later. The joined section will be very slightly thicker than the rest of the yarn, but once it's knitted into your fabric, it's genuinely difficult to spot. This makes the Russian join ideal for projects in the round, colorwork, and anywhere a seam won't be available to hide a tail.

The Spit Splice (Felted Join)

If you're working with 100% animal fiber — wool, alpaca, mohair, camel, or cashmere — you have access to what may be the most invisible join of all: felting the two ends together. This won't work with superwash wool, cotton, linen, acrylic, or any other treated or synthetic fiber, because those fibers don't felt.

To do a spit splice:

  1. Untwist about 3 inches of the end of your old yarn, separating the plies so they look loose and fluffy.
  2. Do the same with about 3 inches of your new yarn.
  3. Overlap the two fluffed-out sections so they interlock.
  4. Wet the overlapped section thoroughly. Saliva works particularly well because its enzymes help the felting process along, but plain water is a fine substitute if you'd rather not.
  5. Sandwich the wet, overlapped yarn between your palms and rub briskly back and forth for several minutes, generating friction and heat.
  6. Keep rubbing until the yarn feels dry and the two ends have bonded into a single, continuous strand.
  7. Trim away any stray fuzz with sharp scissors.

The heat and agitation cause the wool's scales to lock together permanently, so once it's done, this join is just as strong as the yarn itself, with no tails to weave in and virtually nothing to see. It takes a little practice to get the fluffed section long enough and even enough, so try it on scrap yarn first if it's your first attempt.

Choosing the Right Join for Your Project

As a general rule of thumb, use the simple edge join for flat pieces with seams or finished edges, since it's the fastest and easiest option. Reach for the Russian join when you need a strong, nearly invisible splice in the middle of a row or round, particularly with plied yarns. And save the spit splice for pure animal-fiber projects where you want a completely seamless, permanent bond and don't mind a bit of extra time and a damp thumb.

Whichever method you choose, the underlying principle is the same: give the join enough overlap, keep your tension even, and let the structure of the yarn — not a knot — do the holding. With a little practice, you'll be able to switch balls of yarn mid-project with total confidence, and no one looking at your finished piece will ever know where one ball ended and the next began.

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