I don't use wool, so I have never done a felted join. But if you do it right, other knitters say it is a very sturdy join.

I haven't personally used the felted join method. But, I knit with a couple of women who use it whever possible, and have had great results. When not using wool, these same women rely on the Russian for a really neat and tidy join.

I guess I'm just too timid so far.

Since I knit almost exclusively with yarns that felt, I use this join a lot.

It doesn't seem very sturdy to begin with, when it's still wet, but it's strong. Even if you don't get the join fulled all the way, it still works.

Using your saliva works better than water, because the enzymes help the yarn full quicker. However, non-knitters look at you VERY strangely when you stick your yarn in your mouth and then rub it together quickly. It's also kind of icky to knit with wet yarn, though, and I have a tendency to let the join dry before knitting over it.

~ Kit

I do this with all my wool (animal hair) yarn and it works no problem. We call it Spit Splicing. :) You can always test and see if the yarn you are using will work with this method before you get going with your project by cutting off two ends and try spit splicing and let it dry. If it holds you're good to go if not then you will need to find another method. It's worth testing to see if it will work if you have at least 50% animal hair in the mix, less than that and you can pretty much guarantee a no go. HTH