I followed allisonwatkinson’s directions to make the post and base all-in-one, and increased the base to 102 stitches as opposed to just 84 like in the pattern. I also bought a 9 inch plastic disc for the base in order to get a flatter bottom, cut it to fit, and wrapped yarn around the rough edges. Then I sewed a pouch and filled it with poly-pellets to get a little extra weight for the base.

Because I didn’t do the ‘frog head’ base, I also knocked a few rows off of the post and did a gradual taper so it ended in more of a point. Here are my changes:

Following allisonwatkinson’s directions, complete round 30 of base.
Next round: single crochet in the back loop all around (24 stitches).

Rounds 1-14 of post: single crochet in each stitch around (24 stitches)
Round 15: sc2tog, sc in next 4 stitches. Repeat until end of round (20 stitches)
Rounds 16-19: sc in each stitch around
Round 20: sc2tog, sc in next 2 stitches. Repeat until end of round (15 stitches)
Rounds 21-24: sc in each stitch around
Round 25: sc2tog, sc in next stitch. Repeat until end of round (10 stitches)
Round 26: sc2tog. Repeat until end of round (5 stitches)
Fasten off and sew closed.