ELIOT, Maine � Rosalie Churchill, 74, sat in a cozy-looking chair in her living room while soft light from the window touched her face. That�s the chair where she does her knitting. Her hands worked the needles with ease and precision. She didn�t even need to look at them. But knitting wasn�t always this easy for the great-grandmother of four.

"I started knitting in junior high, and I didn�t do very well," Churchill said. "In 4-H, we were making hats and so when you get halfway through, you have to start decreasing. I just let the stitch go and thought, 'Something�s not right!' I just could not figure it out. Finally, one of my 4-H classmates finished my hat for me.

"My husband, Evan, and I moved down here from Farmington, Maine, when I was 19 and when we had our first son, Michael," she continued. "I said, 'Well, he�s got to have some mittens. So I started making them. And those didn�t look right either. They were a two-needle mitten but they weren�t coming out right. I went to my neighbor�s house and asked her, �What am I doing wrong? I�m following a pattern.� She said the pattern is wrong. She got me straightened out, and I made that pair of mittens!"

Churchill, now an expert at knitting, loves her community and she shows it through her skills and generosity. She volunteers her services to knit mittens for kids who need them at schools in Eliot and South Berwick.� She has been knitting for students in the community for about seven or eight years.

"The first year I just made 20 pair to take over to Eliot Elementary," she said. "Then I thought I ought to find out how many they actually could use. Kids will either lose them or can�t afford them so there�s a need. The nurse said they use about 40 pair a year. Well, I guess I can handle that. Then I started taking over 40 pair in different sizes. I said, 'If Eliot can use 40 pair, then South Berwick can use 40."

The requests kept coming.�

"The school nurse at Marshwood Great Works mentioned to me that they could use some, too," she said. "I�ve never made them for the fourth- and fifth-graders, but I probably should, so I�ll probably get to it."

Churchill and her husband, Evan, are well-known in the community. They started Eliot Small Engine Repair in 1978 and have repaired a lot of lawn mowers and snow blowers in their time.

She rose from her chair, grabbing a plastic bag and dumping the contents on the blue couch. Mittens of all colors and designs sprawl upon the cushions. "These I made for the church," she says. "I try not to have two pair look alike if they are going to the same place," she said.