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?

A personal style coaching and content practice devoted to helping you own and wear your clothes intentionally, instead of being worn by them. Discover your own style guidance, and learn more about the practice of intentional style at WhoWearsWho.com

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

Creative energy is up

But what would happen if you* knew that creative energy was up all the flipping time? *in this post you really means me, and (maybe) you too but only if you want it to   What would you make? What would you create? What would you put out into the world that didn’t exist before you? And that wouldn’t exist without you? What if you thought creative energy was always up? And that the variable was you* not it? *me   What if the variable in the equation you* + inspiration + time = art *remember, you meaning me, and you if you want it   wasn’t inspiration, or time, or creativity, or ideas, or your muse, or any one of a million other things? But rather the thing that changed and moved and shifted was you? Then wouldn’t you* become the thing keeping your art from existing? *me  ...
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Shawl Geometry: Pi Circles

This is the third post in a series about different shawl shapes and how to knit them. All the posts in the series can be found right here. PI Circle from the center out The PI Circle falls into the circular shawl shaping camp of “start with a tiny circle, and radiate concentric circles outwards.” The basic idea is that you start with a small circular cast on, then alternate expanses of straight knitting, with dramatic increases. If you work these in accordance with EZ’s concept of PI Circular Shawl Shaping, (which is based on the mathematical relationship between the rate of growth between a circle’s circumference and radius), then you’ll create a circular shawl that lays flat. The basic concept is, if section A has X rounds and Y stitches, then section B has 2X rounds and 2Y stitches, section C has 4X rounds and 4Y stitches, section D...
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Shawl Geometry: Wedge Circles

This is the second post in a series about different shawl shapes and how to knit them. All the posts in the series can be found right here. The Wedge Circle from the center out The Wedge Circle falls into the category of shaping a circular that I call the “knit an octagon and block it into a circle.” In this circular shawl, we use eight right triangular wedges that, when blocked, create the “swirl” effect that this shawl is sometimes named after. The eight right triangle wedges are created by working eight single, evenly spaced increases (or decreases) every other round. Knitting Instructions CO 8sts. Join in the round, being careful not to twist. {8 sections}
 R1: (pm, yo, k1) 8 times. R2: knit around. R3: (sm, yo, k to marker) 8 times. R4: knit around. Rep R3&4 to desired dimensions. Bind off loosely. This shaping actually creates an...
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