Thanks, hgflower.  That's actually what I wanted to hear- I know I'm not a perfectionist and therefore wouldn't have to patience to fix it properly.  If I make that the back, I'll never even know there's a goof!

I finished one piece tonight- woo hoo!

Here's my progress so far, but this camera washes out the color:


I didn't realize until I was well into my third repeat that I messed up at the beginning- I must have forgotten a cable so it doesn't twist like it's supposed to.  Can you see it there at the top of the first cables?
What should I do?  My husband says he wouldn't have noticed, but I don't know...I didn't have the heart to rip back that far, so I'm thinking of just making it extra long and when I'm done, ripping back from the bottom, picking up the stitches and knitting the ribbing down.  Would that work?

I just started this one a few days ago before I even saw the KAL.  I got guage perfectly in a cotton blend that I bought on sale, made a hideously huge Tempting out of and completely frogged.  It's been waiting for the perfect project.  It's Reynold's now discontinued Tuscon in a light purple.
I decided to ditch the waist shaping.  In delicate-type camisoles my belly always bulges (well, it bulges regardless of what I'm wearing, but it shows up more in delicate tops) so i thought if I made it straight instead of shaped it would hide it a little better. 
I'm about halfway through my second repeat of the chart and am starting to get the hang of it.  I love this pattern.

Fan-freakin'-tastic.  Those are both luscious and amazing.  I'm now looking at the book that the Noro pattern came from, because I'm so envious of yours.
You look great in both of them, too- very flattering.  Great job.

I know what you mean about the base chain, I had the same problem.  I managed to chain loosely enough with a larger hook to get it to work, but there's still some strain there.  I think your idea of chaining extra and skipping 2 in between is a good one. Probably worth it to rip out and start again, too, rather than have the width change again.
I finished the bodice and the first sleeve; just started the second.  I did the same thing as you by using a cheap yarn first.  I chose Caron simply soft for my first mock up and even in a cheap yarn the pattern looks good.

You could use pieces of felt and applique a puppy dog, or Elmo, or some other animal.  Or duplicate stitch a sillhouette of some sort.

Leave a long tail.  Grab one of the threads and pull until you can kind of unravel the tail.  Then tie a knot very close to the fabric and cut the ends off.

She said she casted on 100 stitches for the neck opening. I was thinking maybe to swatch with the needles of my choice and then measure around my neck to find out how big the opening should be, and then CO enough stitches to equal that many inches?

Hell, I have no idea what she means here.

Yeah, you have the right idea.  That's exactly what you should do.  Just make sure, when you rib, to use needles that are at least a size smaller for the ribbing.  Her needle list, I think, was just to show you what she used.  So if you decide to knit them on size 13 needles and a bulky yarn, go down to size 11 needles to do the initial ribbing. 

Your sweater was in my dream last night!  I dreamt that it was published in a book and I was so excited to make it.
Maybe I'm prophetic?

Amazing.  Many many kudos to you.  The design is beautiful and the execution looks flawless.  How long were you working on it?