The sound of click, click, click accompanies the low hum of a radio in Lucia Thibodeau’s Wood Street apartment. The petite woman sits in her rocking chair surrounded by yarn, knitting needles whirring, as she passes the time.

“If I sit down, I have to have something to do,” says Thibodeau, 73, in a heavy French accent. “If I didn’t, I would go crazy.”

A small chuckle escapes her lips, but she never loses her concentration or drops a stitch from the mitten she is making.

Thibodeau says it only took her three-and-a-half months to complete the 2,000 pairs of mittens she donated to the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul for local children last year. She made a variety of sizes, but tried to use only dark colors. “It hides the dirt,” she says.

The Canadian-born knitter started making mittens for the church in 1995 after someone asked her to make a few pairs for local kids.

She started off small – she keeps a journal, written in French, detailing the pieces she’s made – with 38 pieces “pour l’église” (for the church). The next year, it was 195 pieces.

Then one year she broke her thumb and couldn’t knit much.

Now, she knits until 9:30 or 10 p.m., taking an occasional break to do a crossword puzzle or two. Besides the stack of mittens, she is also working on several afghans, a couple of sweaters for friends, and a few pairs of socks.

She has two children, but rarely knits for them. Her son stops by often and telephones daily, but he knows not to stop by when Thibodeau is knitting. She won’t answer the door.