Holly Chayes

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.

This online space has been around in one form or another since 2010, it focuses on making, creativity and living a curious life, plus a lot of clothing.

Some of the projects I've worked on in the past 10+ years include...

Talking About Clothes with Holly Chayes

An interview podcast that's all about clothing (and also, not *really* about clothing at all). Find all the details and listen to conversations about comfort, style, change and shopping here. Or search for Talking About Clothes with Holly Chayes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Who Wears Who?

The Self-Made Wardrobe Project

Predecessor to Who Wears Who, a year-long challenge in 2014/2015 where I only wore clothes I made. That year would have been a lot easier if the clothes had magically made themselves. Learn more about The Self-Made Wardrobe Project and explore the archives here.

The Shawl Geometry Book Series

Enough shawl shapes to keep you knitting for a lifetime. A multi-year exploration of math, shape and space in knitting, where I documented traditional shawl shaping, and iterated on those traditions to create new recipes of shawl shaping. Ultimately this lead to 75+ shapes, and 400+ pages of common and uncommon shawl shaping instructions. This project was inspired by a dozen individual shawl designs, each encapsulating a love of geometric lace design. You can find The Shawl Geometry Series here.

Thank you for being here with me. –Holly

the basic plan is balance

14 Aug 2014

thoughts & things

Last time, I started the self-made wardrobe project with a laughable number of garments. (4 skirts. 2 sweaters.) So there was usually a bunch of scrambling* to find something to wear every morning. *and by scrambling I mean sewing. This time I’m beginning with. 2 dresses. 4 shirts. 8 skirts. 3 sweaters. 1 sweater-dress/tunic. 1 kimono. And a plan. (Or at least the beginnings of a plan.) Everything I really wear fits into one of these categories: : over-shirts/sweaters/jackets (all of them) : tank tops & camisoles (I basically live in “tank top + jeans/skirt + something”) : jeans (eep.) : maxi skirts (as a jeans substitute) : skirts (for looking cute) : dresses (2 might be enough?) : winter coat (double eep!) So, if I (more or less) evenly distribute the garments I make into one of these categories, I should be ok.* *and by “ok” I mean “always...

a sweater, a shawl, and a tangle of jewelry

13 Aug 2014

what's in the works

The sweater I was swatching for last week is flying along. I’m a little worried about running out of yarn, which always makes me knit faster, like if I knit fast enough I’ll be able to out knit my yardage (as silly as that sounds). More pictures and information on the pattern, yarn, etc. in this post. I started a new shawl in a skein of Julie Asselin’s “Merletto” it’s in one of her new fall colorways. I don’t want to spill the beans too early (hence the black & white photo), but it’s absolutely beautiful! I love collaborating with yarnies and I’m so glad Julie provided yarn support for this shawl! And I managed to untangled a pile of jewelry. The apartment is basically back together (after the painting and the bedbugs) but there are still little bags of things here and there, (like my jewelry.) Now if you’ll...

The Versio Sweater – beginnings

12 Aug 2014

Projects

I’m not a sweater knitter. I’m a shawl knitter. I was a sock knitter for awhile. I’ve knit some mittens. And some hats. I knit a bag once. And a blanket. Some stuffed animals. And a pair of slippers. But I don’t really knit sweaters. I’ve finished a total of 5. I felted one. And one needs a dropped stitch tacked down. And one I might over dye. So I have 3 that are wearable (one of which has a date with the dye pot.) And one that has about 10 minutes of work on it. But I started another one last week. Which brings me up to 5 sweaters on the needles. (I’m not quite sure how that happened…) The pattern is Versio by Ankestrick (here it is on Ravelry.) It’s a top down pullover, with continuous set in long sleeves (which are kind of totally brilliant!), and I’ll...

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.