Almost!  My plan to use an open stitch to finish the cardigan almost worked.  Here's how it all went down.

I ripped out up to the armholes.  I actually moved them a little, and I like their new placement better.

The honeycomb-like part is 3 chains and one single crochet.  Super simple, but there was just too much of it.  You can't tell in the photo, but it's very floppy and big around the middle.  In the photo, it looks great(ish).

I ripped out the floppy middle and re-crocheted it with three decreases under each arm.  You can see the increases, it's where it looks like the hole is a little bigger.  NOTE TO SELF: make only 2-chain links to make the decreases less obvious.

I'll probably only do two decreases when I remake the sweater.  I always forget that a sweater fits differently when you're standing up and when you're sitting down.  My middle gets a little bigger when I'm sitting.

When I got to my hip, I increased a couple of times.  This made the mesh nice and fitted.  And, even though it's full of holes, it's still pretty warm.  Well, warm for hanging out at home.  Probably wouldn't be good out in the snow or anything. :)

But I ran out of yarn after doing two edge rows on the left front and just the left part of the front (see where it ends in the photo above?).  Argh!

  Here's the side with the completed edging.    The wonderful thing about the edging is that it helps spread out the mesh.  Left to itself, the mesh doesn't spread.  It needs some weight to pull it down.

You can see that clearly in the back shot.  The mesh at the top, which is being pulled by all the stitching under it, is spread apart and defined.  The mesh at the bottom is compacted.  

If I'd had enough yarn to finish the edging, I think the mesh at the bottom would look better.  The edging would have enough weight to pull the mesh down and it would also create a frame for the width of the stitches.  

I probably need to be careful because I think the mesh could end up being a lot longer than it looks when I'm crocheting, especially after I block it.

I am determined to make this sweater!  Now I just need to pick a color and buy the yarn.  I'm actually leaning toward Ivory.  The yarn in the photo is ecru.  Ivory isn't exciting, but it would be super-versatile.