This Mother Knit Herself A New Son

Omg, calm down internet! The woman who made a life-sized knit doll version of her teenage son is not creepy, she's just clever. Marieke Voorsluijs is a professional crafter, known for her knitting brand, Club Geluk. The brand experiments with bizarre and realistic knits meant to make people laugh or smile – there's even a book out featuring some of her craziest pieces.

But when Voorsluijs made a life-size knit version of her teenage son, the internet went nuts. What started out as a cheeky little family joke quickly turned into a twisted story about how a "lunatic" Dutch mother was "overly attached" to her teenage son. Stories began to spread about the "smother mother" who was becoming depressed because her son was less wiling to stay home and cuddle with her now that his social life was beginning to take off. Reports said the "needy and creepy" mother had worked tirelessly to knit a yarn prepubescent version of her child to keep her company. Talk about taking things out of context! It's just a silly joke people, relax!

I checked in with Voorsluijs to see how she was taking the freakish headlines popping up all over the internet today. " I am a professional knitter who likes to knit weird things for my brand Club Geluk," Voorsluijs tells Bustle. "We knit realistic everyday stuff with lots of details and even wrote a book about it. We knit hams, TVs, plants, etc. To set the bar a little higher regarding my knitting skills, I thought of knitting my son. He liked it and we worked together on it. The reactions during the process were so diverse – from creepy to beautiful – that we decided to make some photos in real life to place the weirdness in context. It was just a fun art family art project!"

So like, can everyone calm down about it? It's just a silly craft. The woman is not needy nor creepy. I can't say that I have any interest in a knitted child but I'm not opposed to the idea of a knitted boyfriend ... particularly if it's al life-size replica of Ryan Gosling a la The Notebook, just saying. Keep the photos in the context they were intended and enjoy Voorsluijs' wacky project here:

1. Family Portrait

Voorsluijs embraces her knit son, who even in his yarn state, looks uninterested in her affection. Ah, teenagers, too cool for mom's lovin'.

2. Twinning

Voorsluijs' son hangs with his knit twin. If he's cool with it, we should all just take a chill pill and have a laugh, that's the point, anyway. Pretty impressive resemblance, too.

3. Picking A Winner

Voorsluijs' knit son has become so popular, moms with sons of similar ages are reaching out for instruction on how to make their own knit son, inspiring the question, what will she knit next?

Images: Courtesy of Marieke Voorsluijs