Meet Alfred ‘Alfie’ Date, a 109-year-old Australian who has been knitting since the 1930s. His latest project: making tiny sweaters for endangered penguins.
It all started when the Phillip Island Penguin Foundation needed volunteers after a tragic oil spill that affected a lone colony of little penguins. Alfie couldn’t refuse. As a self-taught knitter for 80 years, the father of 7 and grandparent of 20 knew he already had all the practice he needed to take on this unusual knitting project.
Alfie’s completed penguin sweaters not only look adorable, but they help their aquatic wearers do all the things that penguins love to do — like hunting and waddling about — without having to deal with the stress of nasty oil keeping their feathers stuck together.
Thanks Alfie, for saving these little penguins from extinction, as well as future fashion mishaps.