craftgrrl | Intro and a question about sweater surgery (Reply)

Hi, crafty people! I've been lurking around here for a long time, and I think it's time for me to join.
I have only recently begun to embrace crafts again. I really hated crafts growing up. I was in a Camp Fire group that made lots and lots of bad crafts. I hated making cheesy Christmas decorations and gifts that no one in my family would like or 150 felt bunny napkin rings for the Veterans' Home easter dinner. The only time I enjoyed crafting was when I got to break out of patterns and explore my own creative ideas. You talented folks have given me new inspiration! I can't wait for school break to try out lots of fun ideas.

Edit: Doh--I see it in the memories now. Sorry, folks, I was looking in the wrong section. Nevermind! Question answered!

But that's not the point. This is the point:
I have an orange, yellow, red, and purple stripey old sweater that I love. Unfortunately, it had a bad experience in the wash and is now irremediably Too Small for me (I tried a few different stretching techniques to no avail). The knit has also become much more tight. I love the colors in this sweater and would like to make it into something useful. Arm warmers are out--I don't like to wear them. I'd like to chop it up and convert it into a scarf, but I'm worried about the cut edges unraveling. Do any of you have experience doing this type of surgery? Can you cut up a perfectly good sweater without having the whole thing fall apart on you?

Ideas:
1) Sew the sweater pieces to a fleece backing for a double-sided scarf. (This is my current favorite, as I think the fleece would be nice and soft between my sensitive face and the scratchy wool.)
2) Sew the sweater pieces to each other for a double-sided scarf.
3) Bag the plan altogether and give the sweater to someone tiny who wants to look like one of Big Bird's legs.