(REALLY) Shabby Chic. . .?

If you're going to the trouble and expense of hand-knitting a sweater, do you really want the finished product to look like something you mind find on a homeless man or the rag-clad hero of a post-apocalyptic thriller? 

. . . And even if so-- even if you like to take grunge to a new low-- why spend the time and money (because yarn = money) on making by hand what you can probably get for free with a little dumpster diving?

It's another one to file under the "I just don't get it" tab.  (Boy, that one's going to be full. . .)