Have You Tried the Russian Join?

Weaving in ends is one of the things about knitting that a lot of knitters don’t enjoy. It’s a necessary evil, particularly in large projects or projects where the color changes often.

I usually just weave in my ends the old-fashioned way, but if I’m working with wool I’ll sometimes do a “spit splice” (I don’t actually spit on it, though, I use water to felt the ends of two balls together).

Another option is the Russian join, which is a way of sewing the ends of two balls together. There’s a good video tutorial at BHooked Crochet if you haven’t seen it before.

It works best on plied, natural fiber yarns (because they hold together a little better). Brittany says she’s skeptical about the strength of a join made this way, but I think if you don’t pull on it too much it’s OK.

I like the idea of using this join if you were making a magic ball, or a larger ball out of small odd balls that you wanted to use in a project. Not having ends to weave in would be great, and it eliminates the need to tie knots to join all those odd balls together. I’m definitely going to try this soon and will share the results with you!

Have you ever used the Russian join? I’d love to hear your thoughts and all about when you use it.

[Photo via BHooked Crochet.]

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Knitting and travel are two hobbies that are highly compatible. Travel often involves waiting or time spent on planes, trains, boats, etc., time that can easily be filled by knitting, a portable and productive craft you can do most anywhere (and yes, you can take your knitting on a plane most of the time).

Krista Ann combines knitting and traveling regularly and ended up visiting every continent in 2022 with her knitting needles along for the ride. The Wandering Knitter explores travel, knitting and learning new knitting skills no matter where you are.

This isn’t a book for beginners, but if you’ve wanted to learn techniques like brioche, cables, lace, colorwork, mitered squares and short rows, there’s a set of more beginner level patterns followed by ones that are bigger, more detailed or required a little more skill. For example a brioche washcloth is the beginner pattern, while a brioche sweater (with unexplained exceptionally long sleeves) is the stepped up project. A basic mesh lace scarf becomes a more complex lace kerchief. A giant mitered square cowl graduates to a mitered square tote bag.

Interspersed among the patterns are essays about traveling to different continents and what she saw there. There are also tips for traveling with your knitting and tips for reading charts, but no tutorials for knitting skills (other than a written explanation of how mosaic knitting works).

Some of the projects would be useful to have when traveling, such as fingerless gloves, a warm headband or a colorwork hat. The travel angle is an interesting hook for a book, but I would have enjoyed essays more about specific incidents or shopping for yarn in a different country or something more than the general essays about things she’s liked and places she’d like to go back to.

Still, if you’re looking for a skill building book that doesn’t focus on the basics but gives you some wearable, attractive accessories, this book is a good one to check out. Just maybe make the sleeves shorter if you knit the sweater.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2026 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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