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

shawl, yarn, and ideas

14 Aug 2013

what's in the works, WIP Wednesdays

Super quick snapshot of my desk today. In the center is the shawl I’ve been working on, being watched by the masquerade mask that sits on top of a pile of shawls at the corner of my desk. Under that are two skeins of malabrigo lace (which I love using) for a new shawl. At the bottom of the photo, notes for the third bit of the Shawl Geometry series. And the post-it note peaking out of the corner, is just the beginning of a whole wall of post-it notes all filled with ideas and reminders. No related posts.

Love swatching because it’s awesome, not because you should.

13 Aug 2013

thoughts & things, Tips & Tricks

Every knitter knows they should swatch. We know we should swatch to get gauge. We know we should wash and block our swatches. We know we should use swatching to try out new techniques. We know we should embrace swatching for these, and a million and a half other reason. Seriously, we get that we should like it (or at least embrace it.) But most of us don’t. And I suspect most of us don’t love swatching precisely because we should. Tell me to love something because I should, and watch how quickly I don’t. And I suspect I’m not the only one. The thing is, I adore swatching. love it, love it, love it, love it, love it. But not because I should. And not because it tells me my gauge. I love swatching because it’s awesome, and because you can’t screw it up. With a project...

Hello Friday: sunshine, writing, changing the shawls

09 Aug 2013

Hello Friday

Hello Friday! This week there was: crap. crappy-crap, crap, crap. sucky workey things. but also a new shawl! That is not Eastery. and a post about colors. and sunshine. and writing. and I changed the pile of shawls on my desk. Next week: will not be this week. a thing with Tara. more knitting. more writing. more shawls. I’m playing with a (non sucky) Friday ritual. I’d love to hear any thoughts or ideas, your Friday ‘rituals’ if you have them. You’re totally welcome to look at your week, past or future, here (or on your own.) But either way, be nice, and I’d rather not have shoulds. ie. “you should…” No related posts.

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.