Crystal Lace Bolero progress

I've been working on Robyn Chachula's Crystal Lace Bolero with some friends at crochet-a-long. Robyn used Berroco Softwist, but I wanted to use up some stash for this so I went with some basic acrylic in a dusty rose color. I'm using my Addi 4.5mm G hook (instead of the recommended 5.5mm hook to get the gauge of a 4" square. I'm horrible about weaving in ends as I crochet - partly because I hate doing it and partly because I'm usually crocheting on the go and stopping to pull out a needle just isn't convenient or safe! So I ended up with a pile of squares with the ends hanging out!

Instead of dealing with the ends, I went right to assembly. Some of the gang at CAL were mentioning having some trouble so I wanted to try the assembly so I could help. Right, nothing to do with avoiding the dreaded needle!

Robyn is an architectual engineer. I like the way her mind works (or at least the way I perceive it to be working when she designs). I'm a math geek too. I love the way this assembly process makes the square motifs just blend in to the final garment. You can see in this picture showing the back partially assembled that the top squares are already "lost" in the garment. I just love it!

I still haven't touched those ends! But here's the bolero with all the motifs assembled and all the other joining loops added. Now all that remains is adding the arm and neck/body cuffs and of course those blasted dreaded ends!