When you're unable (or unwilling) to weave the tail back through the yarn core.
When my friend Mary taught me how to do the Russian join it was a game changer. It meant less yarn tails to weave in. Yay! However, as I was getting started, sometimes I had a tough time threading the yarn tails back up the core of the yarn. And sometimes, a loosely plied yarn can make it tricky to do a true Russian join, or you may just not be able to see or manage your work well enough to do it the traditional way.
This is the alternative method that still connects your yarns and eliminates the yarn tails, but with less fuss.
As with a true Russian join, it's best to break your yarn (just pull it until it snaps or fray it slightly with a scissors and then pull it) instead of cutting it.
A cut yarn has a very blunt edge that is hard to conceal. Breaking the yarn creates a more tapered end.The basic idea is to cross one yarn around the other and weave the tails into the original yarn. In this case, the white yarn tail will be woven into the white yarn and the blue yarn tail will be woven into the blue yarn.I'll begin by wrapping the white yarn around the blue. First, look at how long the (white) tail is before the wrap.It's important to make sure the tail is woven in at least the same length on the other side of the wrap. I usually weave in the tail even farther, just to make sure.Begin by threading the yarn tail through the eye of the needle.Next, insert the tip or the needle down into the (white) yarn, very close to the (blue) yarn you are wrapping around.Then, bring the needle back up through the (white) yarn.Keep weaving the needle down, up, down, up... through the (white) yarn until you are sure that you have stitched for a distance longer than the yarn tail.Pull the needle and tail through and remove the needle.Now hold the yarn tail with one hand and gently pull the (white) yarn you stitched through towards the join.Securely hold the (blue) yarn and slide the yarn you stitched through down the (white) tail.The (white) tail is disappearing into the yarn it was stitched into.Keep pulling until the tail is completely concealed.Now we're going to repeat the process with the blue yarn. First, thread the (blue) yarn through the eye of the needle.Now we're going to repeat the process with the blue yarn. First, thread the (blue) yarn through the eye of the needle.Now, bring the needle back up through the (blue) yarn.Continue stitching down, up, down, up...through the (blue) yarn until you are sure that you have stitched for a distance longer than the yarn tail.Pull the needle and tail through and remove the needle.Hold the (blue) tail and slide the yarn you stitched through towards the join.Hold the join.Slide the yarn you stitched through down the tail until the tail is complete concealed.Like magic, your two yarn ends are securely and almost invisibly joined together.Now, when you finish knitting, there will be no ends to weave wherever you have used a Russian join.
