craftgrrl | crochet pattern help?

i have a question--- but i come bearing gifts to lessen the blow!

first,
someone posted a while ago asking about crocheted cat toys, and said the someone they had known used to crochet little balls and then stuffed them with shopping bags to make them crinkly. would this pattern work? i found it today and thought of you.

also, i finally kinda finished a crochet project - and here are pics-

so i've got one slipper finished. not two, just one. but i'm very excited! isn't it cute? it's like a crocheted mary jane, kinda! i got the pattern from a magazine from 1978. you're supposed to put a pompom on the front, but i didn't want to.

it's made out of 7 little 3"x3" granny squares, which i FINALLY learned to do a few weeks ago, after attemptingto learn for about 8 years. then you sew them all together. and there's one more that gets sewn on too, that's not in the picture. then after you've sewn them all together, you single crochet around the top edge. supposedly in a contrast colour, but again i didn't want to, but i think if you crocheted the contrast part in an eyelash or funfur yarn, that would be really cute. i didn't think of that until i was already finished.

but i still have the question! i'm looking for a crochet pattern for a cardigan. not even a cardigan, i just don't know what to call it. definately not like a cardigan for a twin set, but a chunky button up the front sweater, that goes down to mid thigh, and has either a shawl collar or a hood. i have a bought one that's a few years old, and i really want a new one, but they're more than my budget will allow to buy. i've been searching online all day, but all i can find are massively unflattering bag shaped patterns, or granny square sweaters, which i might have to end up using, but all in one colour.

here's are a couple of kinda examples-

but longer and it doesn't have to be ribbed

i don't mind buying a pattern, as long as i can find it somewhere, but free would be be better.

thanks so much!