Meet Rin the Raindrop: Bubble Stitch, Double Crochet, and Texture That Looks Like Weather
Rin the Raindrop is now live as a Yon Crochet intermediate video lesson, in both right-hand and left-hand modes. The two techniques it teaches are the bubble stitch and the double crochet, worked together to build raised, rounded texture across a smooth teardrop body. If you have finished a beginner character and want your next make to look noticeably more sculpted, Rin is a good next step.
Who is Rin?
Rin is a single raindrop who decided not to fall. Tucked inside a cozy cloud-cloak, Rin drifts toward the dry places and the tired travellers and quietly keeps everybody standing. When the weather turns, Rin lifts off that big cloud-hat, shakes it out once, and it opens into a tent with room for the whole group underneath.
In the Yon world, Rin is the healer: gentle, dreamy, completely unhurried, and paying closer attention than anyone realises. Rin notices who is limping long before they mention it, hands over water without being asked, and tends small hurts before they become big ones. The visual vibe is soft sky-blue and rain-grey, round and snug under a big cloud-hat, with a sleepy little smile.
Finish the lesson and you earn the Bubble Sculptor skill badge on your dashboard.
What you will learn
Rin's lesson is built around one idea: texture that looks like weather. Two techniques carry it.
- Bubble stitch (BO). Raised, soft round droplets worked across Rin's body, so the surface reads as falling rain instead of flat fabric.
- Double crochet (dc). The taller stitch that shapes the smooth teardrop curve, giving you height and flow where single crochet alone would look blocky.
Both are demonstrated stitch by stitch in the video, at a pace you can pause and rewind as often as you need.
What a bubble stitch actually is
A bubble stitch (you will also see it called a bobble) is a cluster of stitches worked into the same place and then closed together at the top, so the extra fabric has nowhere to go but outward. The result is a little dome that pops off the surface.
Three things make the difference between a crisp bubble and a saggy one:
- Keep your tension even inside the cluster. Every loop you leave waiting on the hook should be the same size. One loose loop is what makes a bubble look deflated.
- Close it firmly. When you pull through all the loops at the end, snug it up. A loose closing knot is the most common reason a bubble collapses.
- Push it to the right side. Bubbles are usually made on the wrong-side row and pop out on the front. Give each one a gentle nudge with your thumb as you go, so it is already sitting the right way before you move on.
Bubbles eat yarn, so do not panic if your working ball shrinks faster than it did on a beginner character. That is normal for textured stitchwork.
Why double crochet changes the shape
Most beginner amigurumi is worked almost entirely in single crochet, which is dense, tight, and great for holding stuffing. Double crochet is roughly twice as tall, so it covers more vertical distance per round. That is exactly what a teardrop needs: a body that narrows gradually into a point rather than stepping up in obvious tiers.
If you are still fuzzy on the difference between the two, read Single Crochet vs Double Crochet before you start. Understanding why one is taller than the other makes the shaping instructions click much faster.
Left-handed? Rin was mirrored from day one
Every fully launched Yon Crochet lesson has a left-hand video mode, and Rin is no exception. It is not a flipped thumbnail or a note in the description. It is a separate, genuinely mirrored video where the hook moves the way your hands actually move, so you never have to translate the demonstration in your head while also learning a new stitch.
That matters more than usual here. Bubble stitches are fiddly the first few times, and mentally reversing a fiddly technique is how most lefties end up frustrated. If you are new to left-handed crochet in general, our complete guide for lefties covers the wider picture.
Before you cast on
- Count as you go. Textured rounds are easy to lose your place in. Our guide to counting stitches in amigurumi covers marker placement and how to catch an off-by-one early.
- Do a practice swatch. Five or six bubbles on a scrap piece will teach your hands the rhythm before you commit to Rin's body.
- Work in good light. Bubble clusters are genuinely harder to read in dim light, especially in a pale colour.
Where Rin fits in the lineup
Rin joins Rocky the Earth and Echo the Bat as an intermediate lesson. Rocky focuses on loop work and mouth embroidery, Echo on front loops only and clean colour changes, and Rin on raised texture and taller stitches. There is no required order. Pick whichever skill you most want in your hands next.
Start the lesson
Rin the Raindrop is available as a standalone video lesson for $14.99 CAD with lifetime access, in right-hand and left-hand modes, and it is included free with Yon Plus. You can browse the full lineup on the lessons page, or start from the beginning with a beginner kit if you are not quite ready for bubbles yet. Questions about how the lessons work are answered on our FAQ page.
Have you had any water? Rin would want us to ask.