The pattern is written in us terms.
Chain one is NOT considered as the first stitch throughout this pattern
Although in the row and the last one, You won’t need to change colors for the mini bo. I Recommend that you work your Sc stitches over color B yarn So that you have consistency in the weight of your whole piece, Since you will do this anyways in the rest of the pattern.
I will be referring to cream as color A and to pink as color B.
For each set of mini bo stitches, you will have to switch to color A and pull through the three loops of the last mini bo then do your next sc as normal with color A.
Here is a video tutorial showing you how to switch colors between the mini bo stitches and single crochet stitches.
I recommend that you use a cotton acrylic blend yarn that is not too stiff. Or any type of cotton sport yarn that has a little bit of elasticity. (but this pattern can be worked with any yarn you have)
Finally I recommend that you use two colors that don’t have too much contrast so that you don’t have a dark shadow under your base.