I started out with such hopes. Recharted the tunic pattern for Starmore’s Katherine of Aragone out of Tudor Roses.

You see, I could not stand the idea of a tunic with fringes nor one that was 30+ cm around larger than I needed. I had also convinced myself that having a pullover to balance all my cardigans was a good idea. While I was at it, I balanced all the patterns with the directions reversing out from the middle. Not doing that just seemed sloppy.

At almost 40 rows up the body, I have a serious dilemma. I am spot on gauge and the hand is perfect. If I keep going it will be exactly the size I had planned.

This is the inside of a sweater that is evenly balanced between the two colors.-

Now, a couple of shots of the outside.

You see the issue? The values of the tan and blue are just too close. Without the contrast which is at the beginning with the cream or higher up with the rose, the patterning just disappears. I like the blues, the cream, the pink. Tan has never been my favorite color anyway. If I take it out of the sequence completely I am not sure I will have enough yarn.

I could use the tan for the ribbing and edgings. I could frog back to the ribbing and
1) start the contrast in a different place so that the tan comes opposite the darkest of the blues
2) chose a different contrast yarn. I have pinks/purples, purples/blues, greys/black, red/burgundy and purples/greys .
3) frog the whole thing and knit a cardigan with different colors
4) keep the ribbing and knit a different pattern on the body…..

what would you do?