-made the collar shorter by not knitting an extra 1 1/2” (on bottom of page 4 of pattern), not knitting in stockinette stitch (after joining the sweater together on the last page of pattern); folded the shortened collar over and whipstitched into the inside of the sweater
-joined pockets together using kitchener stitch instead of the 3-needle bind-off suggested in the directions
-If I had to do it over again, I’d move the pockets up.