Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties

I made this in August and am just now getting around to blogging about it. I started this blog so I could keep track of my knitted things, but now there's Ravelry and it seems kind of redundant to post here as well. I may be giving up the blog.

Front view with puffy-looking eyes

back view - note the longer length

Pattern: Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties by Stephanie Japel, Fitted Knits
Yarn: Noro Cash Iroha from Little Knits, light granny smith green. 9 skeins
Size: 45"
Needles: US 5 Addi's
Mods:

- I made the sleeves and body a little longer
- I used leftover Cotton Fleece from the diamond mesh sweater for the hem facings because I was afraid I would run out of yarn, but I like the yellow contrast and think it turned out well.
- completely changed the leaf ends and made the ties a little shorter. The seed stitch leaf in the pattern looked wrong to me, so I made a generic leaf from one of Nicky Epstein's edge books and and a matching back for each leaf which turned out really cute.
- The cardi turned out too big even though I got spot-on gauge. I have (maybe temporarily until I think of something better) turned the front edges in at about the place where the cast-on stitches start, and then sewed them in place like a facing. I started the applied i-cord then at the folded edge. Any suggestions for finishing this another way - short of re-knitting - are appreciated.

The pictures look pretty crappy (color-wise) and it's actually more flattering than it appears. The sleeve picture is probably closest to actual color.

See the cool Cotton Fleece yellow facing? Clever, clever!