The lower border is done. Here is the sweater laid out with the back on top. I lightly steamed the border so that I could try the cardigan on to check for length. It's perfect.
I've just wound the remaining skein into two big cakes, ready to complete the neck and front border. As the pattern indicates, it's best to do those before knitting the sleeves so that the garment will hang properly for trying on to check sleeve length.
Note that the pattern is designed to allow you to alter the body length without fear that the stitch counts for the front borders will be messed up. There's a math formula with blank spaces to fill in to assist in calculating where to start in the lace pattern no matter how many stitches you need to knit up for the border, AND the knitting up is based on stitch to row ratios, not exact stitch numbers. To learn more about this approach, read this tutorial. You can apply this approach to any sweater, and it's so freeing!
P.S. Also, be sure to check out this link for particular instructions for picking up from a cable cast on (which was used at the back neck).
