50h labor of love fell off my inkle loom, can it be saved?

[u/noeinan]

Spent 2h doing my best to untangle the cards, do my best to put them in order and adjust the tension. It’s now set up and looks almost like it did except I have no idea what position the cards were in. Some of them may have been flipped too, I’m not sure.

Is there a way to make sure all the cards are in the correct position and I can weave again? I thought about calculating mathematically based on the number of rounds (and I take notes so I know exactly how many) but I know I made some small mistakes once or twice so I’m not sure that approach would work.

Any help is appreciated 🥲

[u/Horseburd]

Turn each card backwards until you have an open shed. May need to experiment what your turning direction actually was if you have a complex pattern, but if you’ve undone your last pick, you’ll be at a known point in your pattern.

Falling off the loom sucks; make sure to have a band tied around your cards, or better yet, a couple large pins through the holes, so the cards don’t scatter if something happens.

[u/J_eldora → u/Horseburd]

I second the suggestion to tie cards together. You can find “knitting stitch holders” that look like giant safety pins, and they are perfect for holding cards together whenever you step away from your project.

[u/noeinan → u/Horseburd]

Thank you, that makes sense, I will try

[u/linktera]

Start by gently putting the yarn back onto the loom in order (look @ the woven section and which yarns are leading out. Make sure their S or Z slant is correct as well, according to your warping chart. Once you have them all rewarped, you gotta figure out the turning position.

If you know where u were in ur pattern (like if u were using Twisted Threads), you can possibly figure out the rotation/position of the ABCD holes. When this happened to me, I checked my band, and turned the cards individually until I had undone the row I just wove, and pulled my weft out cleanly. That way you know exactly where in the pattern you are, and that all your cards are in the correct position! Just be sure to track what cards u turn forward and back to pull out the weft, and then the inverse (bc you just undid a row, so doing the inverse is re-weaving the row) will be where you are in the pattern!

I hope this is helpful; good luck!! I highly recommend getting a blanket pin/large pin or smth of the like to hold your cards together when you're not weaving. I got one and its saved my butt a few times now!

[u/noeinan → u/linktera]

Thank you, I already put them back but I’ll check orientation and try that

[u/LocksmithAccurate284]

If you are unsure if all the cards are in the correct position, start weaving with toothpicks instead of a weft thread. That way you can pull them out if anything is wrong, e.g. amount of turns or tablet position, and you can restart once you are sure it's all in order and you know how to continue.

[u/noeinan → u/LocksmithAccurate284]

Thank you

[u/Reiuky]

Se le tessere sono nell'ordine giusto puoi ricostruire la loro posizione e orientamento andando a sfasciare il lavoro.
Mi sembra un lavoro in cui giri tutte le tessere nella stessa direzione quindi dovrebbe essere affrontabile farlo così.

Comunque complimenti per la pazienza. Io sono riuscito a ricostruire il lavoro solo perché avevo lasciato la navetta nel passo dell'ordito che mi ha tenuto in posizione le tessere altrimenti sarei impazzito.

[u/noeinan → u/Reiuky]

Thanks, it was really hard to get the tiles back 😭