Kind-hearted OAP, 86, taught himself to knit so he can make 55 tiny hats for premature babies

An 86-year-old man has taught himself to knit in order to make hats for premature babies – of which he has now donated 55.

Ed Mosely, who lives at the Dogwood Forest assisted living facility in Atlanta, taught himself to knit after staff at the home challenged residents to make hats for a nearby hospital.

“I told my daughter about it and I said, ‘How can I knit? what do I need to do?’,” the retired engineer told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Bless her heart, she went … and got a [starter] kit, yarn and instruction kit for me. So I started slowly and learned it just takes patience,” he said.

The challenge was issued in July, and Ed started knitting while watching TV. At first it took him several hours to complete a hat, but now his skills have got to the point where he can now knit one in under an hour.

He then offered to teach other residents and staff how to knit.

Between them, the people of Dogwood Forest have donated 300 hats to Atlanta’s Northside Hospital neonatal intensive care unit – 55 of those hats were made by Ed himself.

Northside delivers more babies than any other hospital in the US, with around 2,000 babies born prematurely at the facility.

It’s also the hospital where Ed is undergoing chemotherapy.

Now that he has mastered the needles, he’s turning his skills to making hats for family and friends.

“I am taking orders right now,” he said. “As they long as they furnish the yarn, I don’t charge anything.”

[Lead image: Dogwood Assisted Living and Twitter]