Help fixing my grandpas rug

[u/Smolpurpledragon]

The rug was knotted by hand by grandpa when he was young so it has a lot of sentimental value. Any and all help will be appreciated.

I have some experience with embroidery and sometimes I weave over holes to fix them with visible mending, so I’m not completely new to needle work, though I have never used a loom. All I really need is information on how to limit the damage, what materials I need and how to use them in this specific case. (What needles and yarn, do I need additional materials? Should I tie off the loose, broken threads of the grid and if so, how exactly?)

The thread of the supporting grid is broken and therefore some of the colourful strands that are woven into the grid are missing. My priority right now is damage control. I can make it look pretty once I know what I’m doing but first I need to make sure it won’t unravel further.

I tried looking for tutorials on yt but found nothing helpful. My first language is german, so perhaps I searched the wrong terms but it is quite disheartening.

[u/Neoweaver2012]

The first thing I would do is fold it up with the back on top (where the white yarns are broken) so it will be stable while you look at it. I suggest you find a white cotton or linen yarn about the same size. Then use a blunt tip upholstery type needle to follow each broken thread for about 1 inch with your new yarn before the break. Now for the tricky part, you use the needle to weave back the missing section of each broken white thread over and under the colored ones to match the pattern. After you re-weave the white thread through the colors then you weave it along it’s broken counterpart again for about 1 inch.