bright colors for dreary weather

Recently I pulled out my holiday lights tam (which I hadn't touched in well over a year) and started working on it again. I had abandoned it because I wasn't at all sure if I was happy with the color combinations; I wasn't willing to pay for the yarn called for in the pattern, so I had substituted with my best guess as to the right colors--even dying some of my own with koolaid when I couldn't find anything to match what I saw in the pictures in the pattern. Anyway, I'm still unconvinced, but i'm going to keep at it a little longer. It's nice to have some color in my knitting, anyway, when all you see outside is white, gray and brown.