Secondhand prettyness

With some project the story is simple. See a pattern, buy the yarn and knit. Some others the road is a lot more winding.

For some reason I will never be able to explain I am drawn to these unevenly spun cotton/linen yarns. Really don't know why, because though I have nothing against knitting cotton (and I love linen), I never liked those artsy, thick and thin, yarns. But whenever a ball or two finds its way into my hands, I take them home, even if they are too little to make anything more than tops for a Barbi doll...

Over the years (among others) these found their way to my stash:

For years I've been putting them from one place to an other with no idea what to do with them, until one of my recent stashdiving they ended up in the same heap.

And again, I don't know how, but the images of this cardigan popped into my mind. I do have the magazine, and let me tell you this particular piece never interested me. Until I had that heap or yarn. But the more I looked/read the pattern, the more I knew I am going to change it so much, it can be hardly said it is the same pattern.

First of all, who knits raglans from the bottom up and in pieces these days? Especially short sleeved ones, where you don't have to drag around a whole sweater waiting for the second sleeve to be finished.

So I started at the neck and went knitting in the "classic top-down fashion, using yarnovers for incresases.

I knew I wouldn't like a cardigan that has no closure, nor would I like those flopping collar like things...
Therefore I decided on a V neck and a few buttons.

I used a feather and fan kinda zig-zagging pattern, and knitted up some I-cord for the drawstring. I crocheted two rows of single crochet around the neck and the fronts to give them (and the button holes) more... strength (would be the right expression I guess...)

Photos: Christopher Laurent Deli