52 sweaters in a year! “If I can keep up this pace, I’ll have the sweaters finished by the end of November”
Annemari made a crazy New Year’s resolution to knit a sweater a week for an entire year. She hasn’t quite reached the finish line yet, but has already used up 25 kilograms of yarn.
Annemari Kujanpää, who dove into this extraordinarily large knitting challenge, is a 48-year-old mother of seven. She and her family have lived in Germany since 2000. Annemari works in tourism, breeds Irish Cob ponies, and knits!
Tell us about your crafting background. You must be quite an experienced crafter?
I have loved crafts all my life. My grandmother taught me to crochet before I started school. I learned to knit at school and made my first sweaters as a teenager. I had my first child at 19 and became enthusiastic about making clothes for him myself because store-bought clothes were so plain. My masterpiece from that time was a cap made from recycled purple leather.
When I moved to Germany, people in my social circle would chuckle at my knitting because it was considered a granny’s hobby here. For me, crafting has to be challenging—I couldn’t bring myself to make a plain sweater. Carnival costumes, fancy dress outfits, colorwork knits, and party dresses are the kinds of projects I enjoy. I’ve costumed school plays and made bridesmaid dresses for a friend’s rockabilly-themed wedding.
And what about this wild sweater idea—how did you come up with a project like this?
Last year, we celebrated several milestone birthdays and other special occasions within our family, and I got excited about making blankets, sweaters, cardigans, and rugs. People really liked them. For one themed party, I knitted a delightfully colorful sweater for my daughter in two days, based on her drawing, and I got a lot of feedback about it. Friends began asking for custom orders, and I realized that I could knit an Icelandic-style sweater in five days. That made even me chuckle.
When our family was making New Year’s resolutions, and all the promises were pretty wild—like plans to win the lottery and vows to lose weight—I decided to take on “a sweater per week” as my own project. I wasn’t entirely serious at that point either. In early March, I was busy and under pressure at work and didn’t have time to touch any yarn for a couple of months, but then I fell ill and was forced to slow down. I started knitting again. I’m currently a couple of sweaters ahead of my yearly goal, so if I can keep up this pace, I’ll have 52 sweaters completed by the end of November. Then I can focus on preparing for Christmas.
”For almost the entire month of August, temperatures were over 30 degrees Celsius. It felt ridiculous to knit with thick wool!”
How do you find patterns for your knitting projects?
I made the first designs based on requests. Then I got a couple of books, which I almost knitted through. Only when I realized that I was making more than my family could use did I start considering copyright issues for items to sell. So I began making sweaters based on my own imagination. I’m a lazy designer, and often I just select some nice colors and start knitting. I often figure out the pattern as I knit. Sometimes, a picture with colors I like is enough of an inspiration. Right now, I’m working on a sweater with colors I chose based on the lovely wallpaper at someone’s house I visited.
How and where do you get your materials?
With this volume, I have to knit using affordable materials. I keep an eye out for special offers online, and during the summer, I stockpiled winter yarns. I don’t like knitting with synthetic yarns, and I usually only use cotton yarns for crochet projects.
Have you calculated how much yarn you’ve used so far and how much it has cost?
So far this year, I’ve knitted about 25 kilograms of yarn. I don’t dare calculate how much money has gone into the yarn. I don’t have any “someday” yarns stashed away—the kind you buy just because they’re lovely, hoping you’ll find the right pattern someday. For this year-long project, I stick to just four different yarns and keep buying them repeatedly. This way, I don’t end up with a lot of miscellaneous leftover yarn.
How do you plan the colors of your sweaters? What’s your favorite color scheme?
I don’t have a favorite color, and ideas for color combinations often come from sources other than yarns or patterns. I dress exclusively in black—nothing else. When my kids’ friends browse through the finished sweaters and pick their favorites, it’s amusing to notice that the chosen sweater is rarely in the favorite color they initially came looking for. Colors interact in new ways in combinations.
You’re already well underway, so there must have been some difficult moments, too. Have you ever felt like giving up?
This summer in Germany, we had a terrible heatwave for months—almost all of August had temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius. It felt ridiculous to knit with thick wool! People often ask me if knitting is hard on my wrists, but thankfully, I can say no.
”At home, we’ve set up a sweater cabinet, where anyone can take a sweater and bring it back if they wish. Besides the household members, even our grown-up children who have moved out and their partners use it.”
What tips would you give to someone who’s inspired by your project and wants to undertake something similar?
First: If you’re knitting items to sell, consider that when planning your project. I can’t sell many of my creations due to pattern copyright issues.
For the smooth, solid-colored parts of my knitting, I learned earlier this year to purl “Portuguese style.” In this technique, the yarn is in front of the work and runs around the knitter’s neck or through a safety pin attached to the knitter’s clothing. I may not knit much faster this way than with traditional stockinette stitch, but the different movement saves my wrists.
What is the nicest comment you’ve received about a finished knit?
A friend of mine had a cardigan knitted by her late grandmother, which she accidentally ruined in the washing machine. Using photographs, I was able to copy the pattern and make her a new one. Her heartfelt reaction moved me.
Where do all your knits go once they’re finished?
At home, we’ve set up a sweater cabinet, where anyone can take a sweater and bring it back if they wish. Besides the household members, even our grown-up children who have moved out and their partners use it. If someone wants to take a sweater to give as a gift, they need to contribute about twenty euros for the yarn. At the school’s Christmas fair, the kids always organize a sweater raffle, with the grand prize being a custom-made sweater to the winner’s measurements. The proceeds go to the savings account of the class.
This year, I’ve accumulated so many sweaters that I might set up a stall at a Christmas market.
Do you already have your next wildly ambitious project planned?
I plan to knit a horse blanket with our breeder’s logo on it, using felting yarn.
What kind of crafting dreams do you still have?
If I could make a living from crafts, I would, but I don’t think it’s possible. At least in Germany, handicrafts aren’t generally appreciated. I’d also love to learn new skills. When I can free up a room in the house, I’ll bring my grandmother’s old loom here from Finland. Someday, I’d also like to make yarn from the wool of my own sheep.
