MINOT — Luka Kovacevich rubbed a rainbow-colored mitten against his cheek. Serena Fecteau waved her pink pair in the air. Others simply slid their hands inside, just to feel the warm wool against their fingers.

Noella Hemond watched each child — every kindergartner and first-grader at Minot Consolidated School — say “thank you,” plop down on the classroom floor and gaze at the custom-made craftwork.

“There’s a big satisfaction in doing this,” said Hemond, a great-grandmother who spent more than five weeks knitting mittens in her Minot home. “When you’re my age you can’t do much, so you sit and you knit.”

The project began when a family member rescued three trash bags worth of yarn from a local woman who wanted to throw it all away. Hemond examined the bag, enlisted the help of a friend, Lucille Hodsdon of Norway, and went to work.

The pair divided up the yarn, leaving the brighter colors to Hemond since she sees better.

“I got the greens, blues, reds and blacks,” Hodsdon said. Hemond knitted the yellows, reds, pinks and rainbow yarns.

In Mid-October, teachers measured the children’s hands and took color preferences. Then, Hodsdon and Hemond began to knit. Hodsdon worked the needles for about four hours a day. Hemond tackled the project like a job, knitting from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 5 p.m.

It was a kind of therapy. The needed dexterity, combined with counting stitch by stitch by stitch, kept her sharp.

“It’s just good for an elderly woman to keep her brain working,” Hemond said.

On Tuesday, she gathered her mittens with Hodsdon’s, and took them in a bag to the school. Hodsdon was unable to attend. In her place, Mrs. Santa Claus handed out each pair.

One by one, the boys and girls collected them as their names were announced.

When they were done, the children learned that Hemond will turn 90 on Christmas Day.

In unison, they sang, “Happy Birthday.”

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