Spring clean and conundrum

I know the weather is distinctly wintry right now, but something is inspiring me to clean out. I'm not destashing as such, but I feel the need to clear the decks a little.

Not only have I been finishing off all my WIPs, but I actually want to use up a good deal of my stash yarn too. A strange concept, I know, but I would like to be able to buy some new yarn and start knitting with it soon after purchase, without feeling immensely guilty about the enormous stash occupying our small bedroom.

The other weird thing that's happening is that I'm getting around to knitting up some of my more longstanding stash and finding that the pattern I originally bought it for is no longer what I want to wear. So then it's back to pattern hunting, and finding that I don't have enough of that yarn for the patterns I do want to make... which comes back to the first idea of buying yarn and using it soon after.

So as part of the clean-up, I finished the aran lace cardigan. Not a huge task, as all I had to do was sew on the beads, sew in the ends, and block it. Now it's done, and I'm disappointed to say the least.

The knitting is lovely - I adore the stitch patterns and the colour and feel of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn, and even the glass beads which co-ordinate with it beautifully.

But I hate the fit. The sleeves are too long and wide. The body is too short. The front neckline is too high - a fastener at the top corner would sit on my throat. Not what you would expect from a knit-to-fit pattern. Sigh.

I'm not sure what to do with it right now. I don't really want to banish it as I love the yarn, but I know that I won't wear it. So what to do?

As it was a top-down knit, I could unpick the lower part of each sleeve and rework them narrower and shorter. Part of that problem was I only had a short circular needle in the right size, so couldn't so magic loop to decrease them further. So why didn't I buy another needle? Doh!

I could also unpick all the ends and remove the glass beads (ouch!) and lengthen the body - assuming I recouped enough yarn from the sleeves. I think I would probably cast off with a straight hem, as others have done (thanks Ravelry!). The beaded pointy hem is great, but looks way too dramatic and bat-like to get much wear.

But what can I do about the neck? I would prefer to have some kind of fastening, but I think it would have to be lower down. Would that make the neckline sit weird? If I undo it to the neckline I'll have frogged the lot. Maybe that's the only answer!

Any ideas?