One problem we hear frequently from people who are working on kumihimo projects is that they get lost and lose their place. Here is a tip that helps us:

Never leave your disk with all the strands in an even configuration. If someone talks to you or the phone rings, get in the habit of flipping your next strand up to the "left-up" position.

Then, the next time you pick up the disk, you will always know that the next step is "right-down".