If my third chulyah of a Raavad/RNGaon tie is messed up (by loosening twisting etc.) and I had tied my second one with alternating blue white, may I just count the third chulya as the spacer and the second as real, or does the second one have to be the spacer (I assume there is no Taaseh V’lo Min HeAsui by re- designating them)? What about the first or fourth chuliya?

The Raavad holds (as opposed to all other Rishonim) that when Rebbi said 3 he was talking chulyot and when he said between 7 and 13, he was talking wraps in the chulyot. And because he wants to keep the five knots so he ends up having an extra “spacer” chulya. Based on this understanding it seems to me that the spacer can be anywhere and surely there is no “lo min ha’asuy” issue here.
– Mois Navon