I did a swatch for the cover pattern - following a discussion on the knittinginjapan yahoo group - just to see how it goes. It's pattern 086, page 40.
Pretty much straight forward, but I did a mistake on row 12 - it's a WS row with a kind of 'unexpected' change in pattern.
Apart from this, there are no particular challenges, it will only require an ambitious beginner to use it.
And I guess It will only work well with a yarn with a very good stitch definition.