12 in 2012

I plan on doing something a little crazy this year. I have given this a great deal of thought, so don't try and talk me out of it.

My plan: to knit 12 sweaters in the year 2012.

Crazy? A little.

Then, why? Because something even crazier has occurred to me recently. After looking over my projects page in Ravelry and reviewing my year of knitting in 2011, I realized that I knitted 26 gifts last year. That's right. TWENTY-SIX. Is it me, or is that a high number? I thought so, too. Yes, I made a few things for myself. I am by nature selfish in my knitting. I have been burned too many times to count with bad experiences by very under-appreciated recipients. Therefore, I do not like to knit anything for anyone who won't appreciate it. But, sometimes even I feel the need to push my high expectations aside and just go with the knitted-gifting flow, which is how I ended up knitting a gift every other week. This year, however, the knitting needs to stay in my house.

I also noticed that my wardrobe is very low in handmade sweaters. I have a handful, but with the exception of the two I made this past year (Castle Pullover, which I adore, and Contended, which I am only luke warm about) plus one sweater a friend made for me, my closet is seriously lacking in handknits. I can do better than 3 sweaters, can't I? Of course!

Enter the plan... I won't be 100% selfish about this nutty agenda of mine (mainly because I can't afford to buy the yarn to make 12 adult sweaters). So here are my rules:

Rule #1: All 12 sweaters must be started and completed during the year 2012.
Rule #2: A sweater may include: a vest, pullover, cardigan, shrug, tee, jacket, dress
Rule #3: The sweater does not have to be adult-sized (sounds like cheating doesn't it? I'll get to this point later.)
Rule #4: Half the sweaters must be knit using stash yarn (because I have way too much) or purchased using a gift certificate.

That's it.

Back to Rule #3. You may recall that I am expecting a baby boy in... holy crap... a month. This is going to slow down my knitting for a couple of months. He will need handknits! Plus, I do have an almost-3-year-old daughter who also could use some more handknits (because all little girls deserve lots of cute sweaters). My husband, sorry Dave, will not be benefiting from this year of knitting. He is an intelligent, handsome, witty, loving man who also happens to be a walking furnace. I doubt if poor Dave will ever get a sweater.

And now for the contenders: Here is a list of sweaters I am considering to make myself. Note that each of the lists has more than I will actually make. A girl needs to have options!

Featherweight Cardigan

 

Miriam Cardi

Bedford Pullover

Current Cardigan

Derry Raglan

Tall Flower Cardi

 Chrysanthemum Vest

Agnes Pullover

Annabel Cardigan

Imogen Tee

And that is my list of possibilities. I can really only allow myself to knit 4 from this list (difficult to narrow down from the 10). Any suggestions?

I have the list for both my children, but I will toss those at you tomorrow as it is very very late (or very very early- however you look at it).