It could also be that those threads were broken in the fall. Before I learnt of this trick, my grandson (then about 15 months old, now 18yrs!) 'played' with my lace pillow when his mum was house sitting for us. It was a piece of Bucks with about 40 or so pairs. She had shown it to a lace making friend to sort out before I came home, but she (fortunately) said "No thanks".
When I started to untangle, bobbin after bobbin came away in my hand. Some were broken at the pins, others with up to 6 inches of thread. In the end, there were about 12 pairs of bobbins left joined onto the lace. It had not been apparent that any threads were broken before I started. Now, if it had been the first time I'd tried the turn-it-over-and-wiggle-it trick and all those bobbins had rained down on my head, I'd probably have been frightened off ever trying it again. As for the piece of lace, it was as an edgeing to a bonnet (not for aforementioned grandchild) and was almost finished at the time of the 'accident', so each end that was long enough was weaver's knotted onto a bobbin, and I then unpicked back so all the ends could be reached and dealt with. I then worked forward, getting rid of all the knots as they hit a cloth stitch bit and fiddling those that didn't leave ground. An interesting enough exercise in itself, but not one I'd choose to repeat from choice. Quicker though than starting from scratch. Jacquie in England - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
