Craft: Crochet Bunny and Invisible Decreases

I've been crocheting amigurumi for several years now and it's taken me this long to learn that there is such a thing as an invisible single crochet decrease! 

Made with invisible decreases!

I'm really excited by this discovery, single crochet decreases done the traditional way are not the prettiest. They are good for finding your place in a pattern if you drop your stitch marker, but they ruin the face of a crocheted creature if they fall in the wrong place. Happily invisible decreases are really easy. There's a great tutorial over at All About Ami that describes the process. I have to thank Rachel Chau for highlighting it in her post "5 Things I've Learned About Amigurumi". 

The first project I made using invisible decreases was a Spring Bunny from All About Ami. 

This is a pattern I've made a few times (it's one of my favourites - so quirky and adorable!). You can really see the difference that invisible decreases make in an amigurumi pattern, especially one like this were the decrease are between the eyes. Here is a picture of a bunny I made previously. The arrow is pointing to a diagonal line of decreases alongside his nose.  Admittedly it is difficult to see in the picture (even with the arrow) but it is very noticeable in real life. I still love him though :-)

The stitch the decrease creates isn't 100% invisible. I can usually identify it while working on a row, although it is very difficult to see once the piece has been finished. I'll be using this technique wherever I can from now on.

I'm sure you've noticed that I'm still playing around with photo apps on my phone. The one I used for these photos is from the popular blog A Beautiful Mess. This app costs 99 cents which seems well worth it to me. The hand draw borders and images are charming and it comes with a small selection of pretty filters. 

I've linked this post to Tami's Amis Finish Object Fridays link up. Please stop by and see everyone's projects :-)