Learn From Cramer’s Mistakes

Cramer said he made a similar mistake with Darden in September 2011. At the time, he thought the Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant chain operator would struggle in the sluggish economy. As it turned out, though, Darden's stock has posted a gain of around 30 percent. (Get Cramer's full commentary on Darden here.)

In addition, Cramer recommended many speculative stocks and even though investors were warned they were speculative, he regrets that some of those speculative stocks fell.

To Cramer, there are a few lessons to be learned here.

"When you own shares in a company that has a bountiful dividend that's easily backed up by cash flow, you can afford to be patient and wait for a turn," Cramer said. Even if a turn doesn't occur — and I could argue that it really hasn't happened at Darden — you didn't need to throw in the towel like I did at the same time everyone else did, when the stock had been overly punished for its sins.

"Be careful of asserting that something's a value trap simply because you feel trapped," he said.

(See: Cramer's Top Dividend Stocks 2012)

So what’s the bottom line here?

“If you want to be credible, you have to get rid of the incredible and it would be incredible if I were right every night or at least claimed to be,” Cramer said, adding that he did get plenty of things right in the last year, including the big picture over the last year, telling investors not to waiver in the face of troubling events and stay in the market. In turn, the overall market has pushed higher in the face of various economic woes, benefiting those who listened to Cramer and stayed in the game.

Even so, Cramer asked for his viewers’ forgiveness so “we can both learn from my mistakes and profit from them.”

Read on for Cramer's Craziest Costume Ideas

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