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

Hello April

02 Apr 2014

Pattern Releases, what's in the works

Hello April! It feels like I spent the entire month of March editing Shawls to Play With. (which is here!!!) I did sneak away for an evening to knit exactly 2 rows on the shawl I’ve been neglecting, but most of my knitting time has been spent working on the secret knitting project. However! The secret project is knit! The collection I’ve been working on for ages is finally available for sale! You can buy it here, or through ravelry. And if you want a sneak peak, here it is… I’ll try to have some knitting for you guys next week, (though is might be a new pile of swatches.) No related posts.

Playing With Construction

31 Mar 2014

Books, Tips & Tricks

This is a small excerpt from Shawls to Play With, the shawl collection I’m working on. There are four shawls in the collection (named Gratia, Xylia, Yuki, and Idril) all of which are designed around elegant simplicity. PLAYING WITH CONSTRUCTION The shawls in this collection are all variations on traditionally shaped, knit in the round, shawls. The traditional shawl shapes being, the wedge circle, the concentric circle, the pi circle, and the center out square. Gratia is a variation on the concentric circle, Xylia on the wedge circle, Yuki on the center out square, and Idril is a variation that falls somewhere between the concentric circle and the wedge circle. Why are there multiple ways to knit a flat piece of fabric in the round? Because all circular shawls are simply variations on each other. They all follow the same ratio of stitches increased to rounds worked, 8 stitches increased...

FO: Octavia

28 Mar 2014

FOs

A Verb for Keeping Warm “Octavia” handspun yarn. Colorway: Octavia Fiber Content: 50% Baby Camel, 50% Silk Weight: 2oz Source: A Verb for Keeping Warm Yardage: ~230 yards (~210 meters) Yarn Weight: heavy lace/light fingering Announce! Announce! New York, New York! I know it’s slightly short notice, but I’m giving a presentation at Knitty City on 79th street April 3rd from 6 to 8pm. If your around the NYC area, I’d love to see you there! No related posts.

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.