Well, here I am with egg on my face! I am reminded of the verse, "Weeping lasts for a night, but joy comes in the morning." Well, joy did come. I took it to the LQS in Ottumwa, Iowa. There a very kind owner looked at my machine and lo and behold, I didn't have the crazy needle far enough up in the shank! Now I have changed probably thousands of needles, even took this one out, turned it around to be sure I had it in properly, re-read the needle package to be sure I had the right ones, etc., etc., but he said that sometimes in older machines lint accumulates and it is hard to get them in far enough! Well, it was a very cheap fix and of course I discovered some material that I "had to have" so hopefully he got as good a deal as I had. Thank heaven for an owner who can fix machines!