Around The Bases

I'm not much of a baseball fan, but I loved the patterns in this Around the Bases Crochet-Along by Keito Palette Blog and was eager to get started.  I used 23 skeins of Scheepjes Stone-washed yarn that I ordered from Wool Warehouse in these colors:

     6 - Moonstone
     3 - Yellow Jasper
     3 - Garnet
     2 - Black Onyx
     3 - Boulder Opal
     3 - Red Jasper
     3 - Amazonite

I came very close to the end of the skein with several of the colors.  Love, love, love this yarn.  Has such a pretty look and drape.  I started this CAL with a size G hook.  My center block was Carolyn's, from www.PinkMambo.com, Dream Circle 12" square.  As i progressed with the CAL rounds, my square started to round out.  Per the pattern instructions, I did go up a hook size when working single crochets and chains.  To even out the lop-sided square, when the pattern called for a whole round of single crochets, I made that row evenly of double crochets, half double crochets, single crochets, back to half double crochets, and finally double crochets.  This forced the corners to even out a bit.  I also worked the Moss stitch and V stitch rows with the next size H hook, going back to the G hook for the final shell border.

I found keeping track of my stitch count a little complicated as this CAL assumes everyone may start with different stitch counts.  You will need to count carefully because several weeks you will be on either an A or a B team.  The final project measured 53 inches.