Glen,
Your airspeed is controlled by your pitch attitude, and your rate of climb is controlled by the amount of power you have selected. Now, yes, each is affected by the other factor, but not as primarily.
It's really easy to get caught up in the numbers, and get distracted away from flying the plane by feel. The Cardinal does respond to being flown by numbers more than other aircraft types, but it's still a plane you can feel too.
Certainly don't concentrate so hard as to count to 12 to figure out where the gear is, there are little lights for that if you're not sure.
Normally, I confirm no useable runway, select gear up, wait the 12 seconds for gear to swing, then safe airspeed, positive rate then deselect flaps. After flaps travel inward the airspeed is now about 85- 90Mph
Let me re-arrange this for you a bit....
Maintain "safe airspeed" all the time. "Safe" varies by condition of flight. Confirm no useable runway ahead, confirm positive rate and clear of runway, before retracting the gear. Retract gear, confirm aircraft is continuing to climb and accelerate to a suitable flaps up climb speed, and clear of obstacles, and then retract the flaps. Maintain the flaps up climb speed.
I know it's cool to keep yourself busy right after takeoff, and the raise the gear early just because you can, but remember that drag increases as a square of the speed, so the drag caused by the gear remaining extended is not really penalizing you a lot at climb speed. Similarly with the flaps. Retracting either too early will be much more a problem then retracting them too late!
Yes, the runway has not slipped behind you as you climb through 400 feet AGL, and you've got the gear up, and are feeling fast! Bang clatter, the engine quits! Being super sharp, you race through the forced approach drill, lower the gear and the flaps, then switch off the master, with the gear only halfway down. It's been done many times in electo-hydraulic system aircraft, and you don't notice or have time to pump the gear the rest of the way, yet, you're approaching to a very suitable landing surface anyway.
Give yourself more time to get used to flying the aircraft. Do a number of circuits without even raising the gear. Go flying with your partner, and have him/her watch your speeds, while you don't. You should be able to fly the plane by feel, and not watch the ASI at all, if you can't you would benefit from more practice.
Though the Lycoming manual does allow for "over square" engine operation, it is considered not the best practice to reduce RPM before MP. The engine controls are in the left to right order to assist with this. Power first, then RPM, then mixture. You can always go back and fine tune later. 17GPH sounds about right. Remember that the engine is using excess fuel for cooling in the climb, so waste some fuel and keep the engine happy.
Keep your eyes open for a copy of a book titled "Cessna, Wings for the World" by Thompson. It is an excellent read, and has lots of information about the Cardinals.