I adore the bobble stitch: it’s such a great texture! I developed this stitch because I wanted a puff… but the traditional ‘popcorn stitch’ (used in a lot of sweaters, hats, and afghans) leaves a hole in your work that isn’t suited for amigurumi.
The bobble stitch (bbl st) creates a puff… but by using the front loop of the previous round, creates a hole-less fabric just as plain single crochet would!
The Bobble Stitch Video
Interested? Learn how to do it!
To view the video in a larger screen, press ‘play’, then click the square icon in the lower-right-hand corner of the dialog box!
You can use this stitch in some really unexpected ways!
Of course, you can use it to give an alligator a bumpy back like you saw above. (That pattern is in the book Crocheted Softies.)
But take a look at this guinea pig.

See how the feet are just itty bitty bumps? Those are bobble stitches!
(You can get that guinea pig pattern here.)
If you want smaller bumps, you might want to try a picot stitch instead. That’s what Wendi used to give Merrick Monster his warts. 🙂

There’s a video here showing how to crochet picot bumps.
What do you think? Want to give it a try?

Crochet an adorably cuddly hound dog. Get the pattern here.
This is a great stitch! I’ve used a version of it for toes on a yarn self-portrait before, but I love the way you used it for texture on the crocodile.
I’m excited to give this way a try. Thanks!