Overall I was very happy with the colors and the way it came out. The colors (in order) were Lotus, Carnation, Peapod, and Marble Heather and the in-between and border color was Bark. I used one skein of each of the stripe colors and three skeins of Bark and had plenty for the whole project. These skein amounts gave me 7 color repeatitions and a 12-row border.
I slipped the first stitch in each row and then picked up those stitches for the border, giving me three color and one in-between stitch for the border pickup. The border was knit in the round, garter stitch, and I increased with YOs every purl row (two at each corner, 8 per row). Overall the border laid really nicely and I thought set off the whole blanket really well (it looks a bit ripply in the left photo because I used blocking wires, but it isn't ripply in real life).
This blanket went to one of Husband's coworkers (who I actually worked with also, once upon a time) and she was very happy to receive it. I guessed at colors, knowing only that she was having a girl, and ended up picking just the right ones for her nursery. Go me.