Crochet Crab Stitch
This is the stitch used to form the rope-like edge on the brim of the packable top hat. It is worked using a dc but backwards.
Hold the work as normal, RS facing, make 1 ch, and insert the hook from front to back into the bottom of the next stitch back, i.e. the one you’ve just worked as the last st of the previous rd. (For the top hat, I discovered that it worked better for my yarn to insert the hook into the round below, i.e. under the wire rather than above it.) Continue moving backwards into each st around the brim until you are back at the beginning.
After a few stitches it will be possible to see the effect.
There is an excellent tutorial (link below) done by Jess Coppom, a variation on whose most excellent Cleo Fedora I have nearly finished. She uses the wire rope for the brim of the hat and, as I was having problems with the brim on my Top Hat, I thought I’d try it on that and it works really well! Although I use different yarn, end ferrules and a slightly different finishing ‘crab stitch’ (necessary because I use different yarn).
https://makeanddocrew.com/how-to-stiffen-crochet-sun-hat-brim - this link should take you to the tutorial: just copy and paste it into your browser. If you are lucky, you might get a link to the video tutorial not just the pictures...I get the video tutorial on my tablet but not on my PC!
