West Arthur knitters keep active during lonely times

West Arthur residents with a knack for knitting have been involved with a project to help promote regional mental health awareness.

The green hearts project was started by Waroona-based volunteer group, Dusty Roads WA, when it requested people to knit, sew or crochet green hearts.

The West Arthur Community Resource Centre bundled up the variety of hearts members created and sent them off earlier this month.

Dusty Roads WA founder Bronwyen North said the project was a way for community members to keep active while isolated.

“We had a lot of things planned out and then when COVID-19 hit, we had to put a lot of our projects off,” she said.

“If you haven’t got something to keep you going you can get your mind in a very dark place.

We came up with the green hearts project to get those people doing something for a purpose.

Ms North said the Dusty Roads team wase putting the hearts together this week.

“We’re making a travelling heart for communities that want to get involved, like Darkan, and they can have it only display for two to three weeks and we’ll have a poster with the reasons why and what it’s done for people in the community,” Ms North said.

The other ones are going to be sewn together to be made into wraps and given to different agencies to help those in need to keep warm in winter.

Ms North said the project helped people from different towns come together without physically being with one another.