I make it no secret that I love baseball.  From April to October, I love nothing better than sitting in Safeco field (home to the Seattle Mariners), eating my usual bag of Kettle/Caramel corn mix (the only time I eat it), drinking a beer, and watching 2 teams play baseball.  Unfortunately, Seattle is a 3 hour drive away so my time in the ballpark is limited to only a few times a year, but at least I can watch baseball on TV in the comfort of my own home, even if my cat blocks  the screen once in awhile.

And while I love watching my teams play (the Red Sox and the Mariners), I’m happy watching any baseball game – there’s always someone to root for (or root against).  Maybe it’s because I just notice it more, but it seems like crafters & baseball just go together more than any other sport.  For instance, Stitch n’ Pitch is an event put on by almost every MLB team, where crafters gather together at stadiums to knit, crochet, spin or do other needlecrafts while watching a game (and shopping various crafty booths set up there). I missed last year but I’ll certainly be headed up to the Mariner’s Stitch n’ Pitch in late July!

And this year, a new pattern was released that a lot of my fellow baseball fans have been working on – Crackerjack!  This pattern is a really neat, very long cowl to work on all season  – you choose 4 or more colors to represent your team’s wins & losses and whatever extras you want to use (special games, days off, etc). Then you just follow your chosen team’s wins & losses all season, adding a new stripe after every game. It makes such a fun project to work on and to see all the variations – everyone’s project is completely unique!

I chose the Mariners for my Crackerjack and decided to use Wool of the Andes Superwash (my favorite!).  Luckily, the M’s colors are also some of my favorite colors so it made easy to choose shades of blue/greens for wins (Marina, Fjord Heather)  and blue (Clarity, Delft Heather) for losses.  I also choose to add Dove Heather to start it & represent days off, just to split the colors up a bit.  My other major modification is that I’m doing a scarf in the round rather than a cowl – I’ll wear it more.  To make it lay flat, I added a purl stitch on either side – you can see the seam in the image above.  Once it’s washed & blocked, it’ll make a great scarf to wear all winter while I wait for baseball to start again!

It’s been a lot of fun to work on after every game (well, except for when they are in a losing streak).  And I’ve loved seeing how different everyone’s is looking – for instance, IDP designer (and fellow Mariners fan) Melinda VerMeer is doing a Crackerjack as well – but she’s adding extra colors for special games (for instance, gold for games pitched by our beloved Felix Hernández):

A few months ago, I put together a document of suggested NFL Team colors so I couldn’t resist putting together one for baseball too!  I used Brava Worsted but most of these colors will also translate to other yarn lines, such as Wool of the Andes.

(Note: these colors are likely not perfect but they were the closest to the colors I found on each teams Wikipedia page.  And sincerest apologies to Braves fans, the first version of this had them inexplicably left out.)

So if you are a baseball fan, it’s not too late to start a Crackerjack yourself!  Most teams have played less than 40 games so far, and this project is a fun one to catch up with.  I’m excited to see everyone’s project at the end of the season!