Hi Jane,
I forgot to tie my cross on the warp mill and lost the cross which I thought was a complete disaster until I found a couple of helpful previous posts and managed to get my warp wound onto the back beam with hopefully not too many twists. Now what I am wondering is how the heck I'm going to thread the warp without the cross/lease sticks to guide me in picking the threads in proper order. From your previous post I read:
"I just threaded an entire warp that I had lost the cross on. If your warp threads are nicely sitting on the back beam then you have a good idea of their proper order. I would very carefully put a piece of masking tape across all the threads on the back beam because that will keep them in their current order. It is a greater reach to get at them but they won’t become so twisted they will cause you problems."

I have put masking tape across the back beam but what I am wondering - when you say it is a greater reach to get at them - do you mean I will have to reach all the way back to the back beam to pick up each thread? I'm not sure I can physically do that (I have a Nilus II) and am wondering if you have any other tips for how to thread them in order? Thanks!

Dana, I am just here to say that I feel for you. Though not as disastrous, I once (and only once) took out my lease sticks before I threaded the heddles. 🙄 And I could hear Jane’s voice saying if you lose your cross, life’s gonna suck. Or something to that effect. And it did, big time. My husband helped me carefully weave the lease sticks back in, but it took a lot of patience and time. If it’s not a complicated warp, then you might try that. Could you weave in the lease sticks close to the back beam, then slide forward? If you can get one in by going over under over under, the slide it close to the heddles and tie it on, the it should be fairly easy to get the other one in by doing the opposite threads—under over, etc. Anyway, I wish you all the best of luck with this. Let us know how your doing! 🤞🏻😘

Thank you Deb! Yes I nearly had a melt down when I realised what I had done! Helpful to know others have done it before me and survived :D It's not a complicated warp so I think I will try getting those lease sticks in there. At this point, does it matter if I created some of the warp with 2 threads at a time? In other words can I just alternate over/under with single threads whether I built up the warp with one or two threads at once?

I think you might get a bit of twisting, but it will probably sort itself out if the threads that might cross are not too far apart. Good luck !

I have just done something similar! Got a bit cocky, thinking that I have the hang of this warping business now! I am doing the Parrot Sample. I had to do my warp in sections and I was concentrating on chaining as Charlotte does in Season 1 ; really pleased with my index finger technique; got to the top by the cross and realised I hadn't tied the cross! I have now (too late this time around) stuck labels on the warping mill saying SECURE YOUR CROSS!!!!
Fortunately, I only lost the cross on a tiny section relatively speaking,(I should have had my rubber bands in place!); about 40 ends maybe?
I have spread the warp on the raddle as best as I could. I started spreading the warp from the right till I got to the messed up section and then started spreading from the left working out the width etc.
My question is.... the threads that have missed the cross are a bit of a mess on the lease sticks, as I had to fudge it in order to spread the warp. They are very twisted. I wondered if I should continue to wind on carefully with the lease sticks in place and then when I cut the ends before threading the heddle, sort the cross out on that section as I thread the heddles. Would this affect the tension? I thought I might be able to readjust at this stage with another set of lease sticks....that section is quite twisted as I was trying to get my warp spread. I could try taking that section out of the raddle and seeing if I could do that but that's not so easy with the chain in place......

Any advice would be gratefully accepted.
Cheers,
Jane

https://ibb.co/wsfs9h7
Hopefully this will load a photo if the warp in question.

Thank you Sandra. I did read the other two threads. Although it’s not the whole warp, the threads are quite twisted and very difficult to get into the right order. Do you think if I’m very careful, I could wind the warp on as is, and rethread once I‘ve cut the threads at the other end?
Thanks

Thank you Sandra. The reason I have gaps in the raddle is because Jane says you have to “fudge the math” due to the Louët being metric and every 3 inches to leave a gap! I was doing 4-4-4-4-2 which gives me 18epi… have I misunderstood? Having said that, I have looked at the photo again and is does look very gappy… maybe it’s the camera angle?
I have tried to get that area sorted but can’t seem to get the threads to follow the warping order. I will try again but this time I will find a way of tackling it sitting down! My back was screaming. I will get back to you with better pics and hopefully a solution.
Thank you for such a quick response. This is the most marvellous facility! Best wishes. J

Hi Sandra
An update on my cross fiasco! I have managed to recover my cross with aid of two knitting needles and an extra pair of lease sticks. I slid the extra lease sticks in and secured them to the back beam. I then slid out the original stick in the messed up cross and used the knitting needles as lease sticks and reworked the cross. I had to keep securing the knitting needles with rubber bands so they didn’t slip out. I tried to follow the order as carefully as I could but it was definitely a best case scenario.
I then slipped them back on to the original lease sticks and secure them. I spread the warp and wound the warp onto the back beam. I had to keep sliding the crossed threads forward so that I could wind on without carrying the crossed threads through the raddle. As painstaking as it was, it paid off because once I cut the threads at the end of the warp all the threads were in the right order!!!
I’d like to say I won’t be doing that again, but I probably will at some point!
Thank you for all your help. I will post a photo tomorrow…
I can honestly say that I would have abandoned it, had Jane’s practical approach to weaving and your patient advice not been on hand to help.
One thing I discovered while sorting the cross was a single thread that was out of sync. I think I must not have completed a circuit. I pulled it out of the back of the loom after I had wound on but now have an uneven number of warp threads. Will this affect the selvedges and do I have to add a floating selvedge? If so, can you please remind me where I can find how to do that? I know I have watched Jane doing it!
Hope this all makes sense!
Thank you again for all your help.
Best wishes
Jane

https://ibb.co/TT0LS1L
https://ibb.co/NnYhshk
All sorted and ready to go! I just have to remember to remove the lease sticks before I start weaving!! 🤣🤣
Thank you for all your help.

Love how weaving exercises our brains. Also, love this forum.
I have a question regarding the diversified towel pattern. I have wound the 3 threads as directed, however, when I am placing the threads in the rattle, the pattern calls for 20 epi, and I don’t want to separate the 3 groups of thread for fear of tangles. I have then placed 12 ends per 1/2 inch in the rattle and left a few empty spaces along the way to make a final measurement of 24.28 inches. Will this work when I wind onto the back beam. I am dressing my Norwood loom back to front. Jo