Marigold Hat Optional Brim (with Mini-Tutorial for Reverse Single Crochet Edging)

A beanie-style hat (even one with a really cute striped band and perky little buttoned flower) is not to everyone's taste - so here's an optional brim for the Marigold Hat.

The brim can be pulled down:

Or allowed to curl up:

Either way gives a charming cloche-like look to the hat.

Dear Goatmother - I borrowed your hat for a
few minutes. I hope you don't mind. : )

The pattern is pretty straighforward, so I'll just give it to you in plain English. (A short phototutorial for reverse single crochet is included at the end of the post.)

You'll need 2 hooks, as for the hat pattern (I used H/5.00mm and G/4.25mm).

Notes:
~ My hat was 80 stitches around, so my increases are based on that stitch count. If your hat has a different stitch count, just space the increases evenly around the brim.
~ For a slightly less curly brim, use the larger hook throughout.

Marigold Hat Brim

With right side facing you, using larger hook, attach brim yarn with standing single crochet in any band stitch (click here for tutorial on standing single crochet - may be found about half-way down the Marigold Hat post, under "Crown - Round 1").

Brim Round 1: Single crochet around = 80 stitches. Join with slip stitch. Chain 1; do not turn.
Round 2: Starting in same stitch as the chain-1, (half double crochet 9; increase in 10th stitch. To increase: half double crochet 1, single crochet 1 in same stitch). Repeat 8 times around = 88 stitches. Join with slip stitch. Chain 1; do not turn.
Round 3: Starting in same stitch as chain 1, (half double crochet 10; increase as above in 11th stitch). Repeat 8 times around = 96 stitches. Join with slip stitch. Chain 1; do not turn.
Round 4: Starting in same stitch as the chain-1, half double crochet evenly around = 96 stitches. Join with slip stitch. Chain 1; do not turn.
Round 5: Switch to smaller hook. Starting in NEXT stitch, single crochet around = 95 stitches. Join with slip stitch.

Remove hook from loop. Turn work so reverse side is facing you. Put hook back through loop; the working yarn will now be in front of the work.

Round 6: Reverse single crochet around (see short photo tutorial below if necessary) = 95 stitches. Join to first stitch with invisible join (see photos below). And you're done!

Reverse Single Crochet Phototutorial

Reverse Single Crochet adds a nice, sturdy, textured edge. It's not a difficult stitch but it takes some getting used to.

After completing Round 5, remove your hook from the loop. Turn the hat around so the reverse is facing you. Put your hook back through the loop.

Your hook should be behind the work, and your working yarn is in front.

Chain 1 (does not count as a stitch).
Now swing your hook down and to the right. You want to insert it front to back through the next stitch to the right.

Here's the hook inserted into the next stitch to the right:

Yarn over, pull up a loop:

Yarn over, and pull through both loops. Your first Reverse Single Crochet is done.

That's it - it's just like regular single crochet, except that you're working in the opposite direction. It will feel very awkward at first, but your hands will soon get into the rhythm of it.

With every stitch, the yarn wraps around itself a bit to form a twisted edge. Here's what it looks like several stitches later:

A nice, firm, twisty edge

Keep stitching around until you get back to where you started. Time to finish this baby.

You could just slip stitch the edges together, but why do that when you can make an invisible join? Read on for the juicy details.

Special Invisible Join for Reverse Single Crochet

Note: Using a hook several sizes smaller makes the invisible join much easier.

The first step of any invisible join is to cut the yarn a few inches away from the work, then pull it up and out of the final stitch.

Now turn your work over. The final stitch is to the right; the first stitch of the round is to the left.

Look for the tiny twisted bit in between the final stitch and the first stitch (it was formed by the chain-1 which started the round). The steel hook is pointing to it in the picture below.

Insert your hook from left to right through this stitch, and gently pull the yarn tail through. That's it! The simplest invisible join you'll ever do.

Weave the yarn end back through some of the v-shaped bars at the base of the row (going in the opposite direction), and snip off the extra.

Can you tell where the join is? I can't.

Truly invisible.

(Speaking of invisible joins, tomorrow I will post a dedicated tutorial for the standard invisible join, with tips for customizing it to various crochet situations.)

Thanks for viewing, and happy crocheting!

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Operation Marigold: Get Your Hooks Ready

When someone near or dear to us is confronted with a medical crisis, our natural reaction is to want to "do something". A prayer, a phone call, an e-mail, a meal, a card, or a hug - something, anything - that will at once relieve our feelings and let the suffering one know that we care. If we can't make the problem go away, we can at least try to lighten their load and make their dark path a little brighter.

Enter Marigold, a goat on a mission. (You may have noticed her button on my sidebar.) Marigold's goal? To...

You see, Marigold's human caregiver, the Goatmother, is currently battling breast cancer. (You can read about her journey here.)

For some weeks now, Snowcatcher and I have been pondering how we could show support for the Goatmother, join Marigold in her quest, and butt some hay out of cancer. While Snowcatcher and I may not be very good at butting, we do know how to put our heads together - and, as it happens, we both love to design crochet patterns.

Can you see where this is heading? Hat patterns, of course! And with the patterns, a hat drive - for whether you're going through chemo, or just going around butting things (like cancer), a soft and pretty head covering can make all the difference.

Both Snowcatcher and I will be posting free hat patterns to honour our friend the Goatmother, and through her, everyone who is battling cancer. For those who would like to participate in the hat drive, we'll include some helpful information on how and where to donate hats for chemo patients. We'll also be starting a Flickr group so we can all post pictures of our donated hats.

So stay tuned, and get your crochet hooks ready. Operation Marigold is about to commence!

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