Speckles or Not

My friend, Karen, and I are going to do All of the Lights, a very cabled cardigan, and we’re starting October 1. I have swatched but still am not sure what yarn I’m going to use. The pattern calls for DK.

History

Initially, I swatched with this DK weight yarn.

Even before doing the swatch, I was pretty sure the amount of variation in color was going to cause the cables not to show as much as I was hoping so I ruled out that yarn, but it is gorgeous.

This is another DK weight yarn I have and it’s very solid so I figured it was a safe choice. The more I look at the other projects, the more I felt like the project needs some amount of speckles but just enough and not too much. I’ve gone stashdiving again.

This one might work. Peachy/orange is so not my color but it is pretty yarn.

I could swatch but I’m really close on the amount of yarn I have.

Then, there’s this one:

This is a Madelinetosh yarn and not speckled but there is some amount of variation of color but also the skeins are pretty different – every one of them, either enough to make it interesting or enough to make it look like every skein is mismatched, even with alternating skeins.

I sometimes wonder if it’s the actual knitting I like or the planning, stashdiving and scheming to find the right colors that I enjoy more.

I have less than two weeks to figure this out. Any suggestions?