you'd think I'd remember that using a sewing-machine tends to result in quality time with the stitch-ripper. :(
Especially when it's my grandmother's bizarro 1960s-era Singer instead of my own machine. :O
ETA: the machine is a Singer 338, and looks just like this one-right down to the faded turquoise color:
Thank goodness for youtube enthusiasts, or I would never even have gotten the bobbin loaded on this thing. So many of the mechanics on it are just awkward. :O