To help me keep the back panel correct without referencing the chart, I thought of it this way:

To make the cable lean toward the “front” (beginning) of the row, knit through the front of the second stitch.

To make the cable lean toward the “back” (end) of the row, knit through the back of the second stitch.

I took about two months off from knitting this or anything in general… just couldn’t get in the groove.

For sleeves, picked up 13 sts, knit a row even, then decreased down to 68 sts (instead of 65 for my size) since I’m in between sizes and don’t have super skinny arms. Continued decreases every 8th row for a total of 14 times (which left me with 40 stitches), then knit 4 more rows for a total sleeve length of 17”. Did 3” ribbing before the turn row, then 3 more before setting up for the tubular bind off.

For the tubular bind off, divide your stitch count in half and cut that many inches of yarn. That will leave you with a very safe amount without having a ridiculous amount of excess (as I did with the hem… I had 164 stitches and cut an equal number of inches for the tail, and ended up having well over 100” left over.)

Did an Icelandic bind off for the collar so that I didn’t need to worry about cutting a tail long enough. It’s sufficiently stretchy but not too stretchy, which I feel would make the collar floppy and messy looking. Very pleased with the result.

I crocheted the live stitches of the pocket edges to the side seam, and crocheted the bottoms of the pockets closed. Since I used fisherman’s knots to join new yarn, I had very few ends to weave in. Now I just have blocking left, but I can already tell this will be a very useful sweater in my wardrobe!