Color Madness!

Here's a story.....of a little cardi....who wanted to grow up to be beautiful someday.

In case you're just joining me, here's the pattern: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTarietta.html. I'm really starting to think I should have just gone with the original colors, which are lovely. But, no, I had to think I could make it a little more 'girly', and now I'm having some issues. I decided to use the yarn that is
called for in the pattern, Shine Sport by Knit Picks. The first colors I choose you can see in the

third picture, they were Willow(brown), Blush, Hydrangea, Silver Sage and Cloud (gray). I swatched on my 3's like a good girl and found that I got too tight of a fabric for my liking. I ended up getting gauge on 5's. Don't know if this makes me a tight knitter or the designer a loose one, but that's what I got.

Anyhoo, I wasn't liking how the Cloud (one of the contrast colors) was fading into the Willow (brown) too much. So I pondered and pondered and decided to order some Butter (yellow). Funny thing how a few balls of Main Line ended up in my cart as well......

So I thought the yellow would contrast nicely with the Hydrangea and the Silver Sage could be used for the Blush, since I always love pink/green combos. Well, you can see the start of my sleeve. I'm not liking how the Butter makes the Hydrangea look blue. The other thing that concerns me is just the overall brightness. Will I really like this when it's finished?? Will I feel like I need to go to a Garden Tea Party, or will the guests run away screaming from my hideously colored sweater?? What to do, what to do.

The other thought I had was to put the Blush and Butter together, which I originally didn't want to do since they are both 'brights'. That's the weird little swatch on the bottom, under the bigger one. I was trying to see if the Hydrangea/Sage and Blush/Butter combo would be better.

Argh! On top of it all, I'm sick as a dog with some flu type thing and can hardly walk across the room. My brother is in town and supposed to drive me back up to Philly, PA on Tuesday for a vacation. And....my Birthday is tomorrow! No fair.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this or how to make it better. Remember, I do still have the Cloud yarn as well, but I really can't buy any more colors right now.

Namaste,

Elizabeth

Frustrated in Western North Carolina