Alfie Date, designer to the Phillip Island Penguins

You know what it is like when you get on the Internet. One link leads to another, and another, and you find the most incredible stories. I am going to Ireland in October and was doing a bit of research. I found an Indie Irish hand dye yarn company called Smudge. Of course I had to see where I might find it, which led to a yarn shop blog, which posted the story below.

Are these not the cutest little guys you have ever seen - Phillip Island Penguins sporting hand knit jumpers (we call them sweaters).





Phillip Island is an Australian island about 140 km (87 mi) south-southeast of Melbourne and is the home to about 32,000 little penguins. They are the smallest penguins in the world, and the only species with blue (rather than black) and white feathers as an adult. These little penguin "jumpers" are functional as well as unbelievably cute. The penguins were unfortunate victims of an oil spill. Left to clean themselves, they were ingesting toxic chemicals.  Cleaning them with soaps removed their body oils which kept their feathers water repellent and there were suffering from that. These adorable sweaters, kept them warm and were all the creations of a 109  year old Australian man, Alfie Date, who had been knitting for 80 plus years.

For the full story, click the following link.

http://blog.theanimalrescuesite.com/penguin-sweaters/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=arsfan&utm_campaign=penguin-sweaters&utm_term=20150324