WASPS NEST Square

WASPS NEST Square by Terry Morris

What Is Being Made

The WASPS NEST Square is a 7-inch knitted dishcloth square designed as part of a Holiday Mystery Gifts collection. This intermediate-level knitting project creates a decorative square featuring a textured pattern that visually resembles a wasp's nest. The finished square is washable and suitable for use as a dishcloth or decorative textile component.

Pattern Design and Visual Effect

The WASPS NEST pattern employs slipped stitches as its primary design technique to draw up the fabric and create dimensional texture. The pattern mimics the appearance of a wasp's nest through strategic stitch manipulation. Despite its visually complex appearance, the pattern is more straightforward to execute than it initially appears, as knitters work with only one color of yarn per row, simplifying color management throughout the project.

Knitting Techniques Used

• Slipped stitch pattern – The foundational technique that creates the nest-like texture by drawing up the fabric
• Long-Tail cast on (also called Sling-shot cast on) – Used to establish the initial stitches on the needles
• Single-color row work – Each row uses only one color, alternating between two contrasting colors across rows
• Border knitting – A defined border structure frames the central pattern

Stitches and Construction Details

The pattern begins with a Long-Tail cast on using Color A (the accent color). Knitters cast on either 34 or 42 stitches depending on desired gauge and fabric flexibility. The construction includes a structured border worked at the beginning of the piece, followed by the slipped stitch pattern section that creates the distinctive wasp's nest texture. The dense fabric created by the slipped stitch technique requires more stitches and yarn than other squares in the collection.

Materials and Yarn Specifications

This project uses worsted weight yarn in two contrasting colors:

• Color A – Accent color (white in the provided sample)
• Color B – Background color (red in the provided sample)

Knitters should select washable yarn appropriate for dishcloth use. US size 7 (4.5mm) needles are recommended, though needle size may be adjusted to obtain proper gauge. The pattern notes that worsted weight yarns vary significantly in actual dimensions, so gauge flexibility is built into the design to accommodate different yarn characteristics while achieving the target 7-inch square.

Gauge and Sizing

The target gauge is 4.9 or 6 stitches per 1 inch over the total square, depending on the cast-on option selected (34 or 42 stitches). The finished square measures 7 inches. Because yarn weight variation is common among worsted weight options, the pattern allows knitters to choose their gauge and cast-on stitch count for optimal results with their specific yarn, ensuring a flexible finished fabric suitable for dishcloth use.

Difficulty Level

This project is rated as intermediate difficulty. While the slipped stitch pattern creates a visually intricate appearance, the intermediate classification reflects that knitters need familiarity with basic knitting techniques, stitch manipulation, and color changes, but the pattern itself remains manageable through its single-color-per-row construction method.