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"      What is it about foreign cultures that make them more open to creating innovative solutions to romantic loneliness? In Japan, for example, there are &amp;quot;boyfriend pillows&amp;quot; and interactive posters that kiss you back. Meanwhile, stateside, we consider these kinds of things &amp;quot;creepy.&amp;quot; Instead, the lonely and single among us go for Ben &amp;amp;amp; Jerry&amp;#039;s Phish Food, Sex and The City reruns, and porn. (The closest we get to Japan&amp;#039;s innovations, really, is vibrators.) What&amp;#039;s actually the better option? Who knows, really? To that end, Dutch illustrator and designer Noortje de Keijzer decided she needed a man in her life (&amp;quot;I could say that&amp;#039;s a joke, but it is partly true&amp;quot;) and painstakingly put her needles and thread together to create a &amp;quot;knitted boyfriend,&amp;quot; a life-size wool-crafted adult male likeness complete with stubble, nipples and a happy trail. (Perhaps one of the only instances that knitting would actually help you get a boyfriend.) They come in two models \u2014 the dark-skinned &amp;quot;Steve&amp;quot; and light-skinned &amp;quot;Artur&amp;quot; \u2014 and you can see a heart-rending series of illustrations by Keijzer detailing their life together. Here&amp;#039;s what she said about her project and the inspiration behind it: My Knitted Boyfriend is a cushion with a story. A cushion with a personality. A cushion to kiss! Or, well\u2026 to cuddle, to caress, to hug, and to smile with. Because this man is always happy. And he is flexible as well. He will have a mustache if you prefer mustaches. He will wear glasses if you prefer glasses. He likes to sit on your floor, on your couch or at you dinner table. But most of all he likes to lay down next to you in bed. With your head on his chest and his arms wrapped around you. This way you will never feel alone ever again. With this man you can be sure, he will never leave you. He also won&amp;#039;t take out the trash, and I&amp;#039;m pretty sure he is lacking some essential parts, but I&amp;#039;ve been on so many bad dates that I can get down with this. You? Follow Anna on Twitter: @annabreslaw "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a12545/dutch-knitted-boyfriend/>