"I've never knitted in my life," said Ed Moseley, 86, but he knew he wanted to volunteer his time in order to help.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but just try telling that to this 86-year-old retiree, who taught himself to knit in order gift handmade caps to premature babies.
When staff at Dogwood Forest Assisted Living in Georgia asked their residents to help make caps for preemie babies, 86-year-old Ed Moseley, who is battling cancer, knew he wanted to volunteer.
But, the only problem was, he didn’t know how to knit.
“I’ve never knitted in my life,” Moseley told InsideEdition.com. “Corporate said it’s a nice project for keeping the old people out of trouble.”
That’s when he reached out to his daughter, who bought him a looming kit with a book of instructions.
Sure enough, Moseley, a former engineer, picked up the practice quickly, and started putting together tiny caps.
At first, it took him nearly three hours to create one of the tiny hats, not including the time it took him to start over after dropping stitches. Now, he can now complete each cap within an hour and a half.
"I could watch TV at the same time and knit," he said.
Originally purchasing yarn from the store, Moseley soon realized, “Everybody’s got yarn! These ladies must have inherited yarn.”
As word got around, other residents in the home started pitching in. Moseley’s original target was to create 150 caps, but “we started filling up my couch with caps, and then all of a sudden, caps started coming from various places.”
Within weeks, Moseley created 55 caps himself, and other residents pitched in to eventually create 300 hats, all to be delivered to the Northside Hospital on Thursday, in time for National Preemie Awareness Day.
Read: Mom Posts Viral Photo of Her Adorable Preemie Daughter Sporting a Huge Grin
Even though the gesture may seem small, the Blunt family, whose son Matthew was born at 35 weeks, appreciated the support.
“It’s very nice that so many people care about the babies in the NICU,” said Patricia Blunt in a statement. “Being up here is so disruptive to your every day and knowing that people care enough to help parents is so appreciated.”
Moseley now hopes the retirement home can send 30 new caps to the hospital each month.
Watch: Baby Born Weighing Less Than a Pound Comes Home After 307 Days in Hospital
