Rippidy Doo Dah!

What can I say? My fingers started to itch. That's why I took this rarely worn garment:
And ripped it out to become this:

Note: I did not organize the balls into the triangular shape. They wanted to be that way. And if you wonder why the yarn seems so much brighter in the bottom photo it is because the SUN is actually SHINING. Of course the sun quit such foolishness moments later and everything, including the yarn, looks dingy again.

Ripping is so therapeutic, especially when one actually used decent yarn. That sweater was made of Rowan Biggy Print (though I don't think they carry this color any more) that I bought a couple of years ago on sale at Flying Sheep (by far my preferred local yarn store due to their lovely employees and owner). It is a really lovely, springy, soft merino wool and tolerated my non-too-gentle ripping very well. The funnelneck sweater I made was from the Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits and it never really worked. It turned out too warm to wear inside and did nothing to minimize my broad shoulders. If anything it made me look like a linebacker.

So now I'm going to turn it into a raglan cardigan and I'm going to do a little math (gasp!) and use the Custom Fit Raglan Sweater pattern generator. I plan to use chunkier needles--I'm thinking size 13--so the resulting knit is a little airier and less dense than the previous sweater which was knit on size 10s. Hopefully the raglan sleeves and no seams will minimize shoulder size. I think that was one of the big problems on the previous sweater--chunky wool makes a chunky seam, even if the seam was sewn really well, which, in this case it was not. Sloppy seaming and chunky wool made it look like it had shoulder pads.

I haven't decided how I want to edge the sweater, whether I should add some ribbing or do a couple of rows of crochet as an edge. Maybe I'll swatch a little example of each and post them here so you all can vote and help me to decide.