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

focus, overwhelm, and stardust. So may crafty projects, so little time.

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. So many projects, so little time. Sanity stitching, plus 27 feet of gold lame, plus putting another repeat on my Lady Bat sweater, plus more Shawl Geometry Book Three edits, plus, plus, plus… … Whenever I feel like I have a million projects on the (metaphorical) needles, I find myself trying to navigate a balancing act of (what I think of as) levels of zoom. By that, I mean, sometimes I’m zoomed in to the level of intensely forced focused and framed around one particular thing – this is the space where one project moves forward in leaps and bounds, but after awhile all the other projects start niggling. Other times I zoom out to an overview high level where I can see all the things that are happening, how they interact,...
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Stitch. Stitch. Stitch. Write. Write. Write. Call. Call. Call. Make. Make. Make.

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. What do I have swirling around my brain right now? I can’t believe it was only two weeks ago that I released the second edition of the second book in the Shawl Geometry Series. It feels like a lifetime ago. I pulled out an old, old work in progress this week. It’s an embroidery project that I started when I very first moved to NYC. The idea was to embroider fabric and turn it into a skirt. I’ve worked on it on and off over the past four years, but other projects came in and out and took focus. I pulled this project out at the end of the year, when I reviewed all the projects I have in the works, and said maybe I’d keep working on it and turn it...
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a week of friends, indie businesses, and knitting one repeat at a time

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. What do I have swirling around my brain right now? Supporting friends. Supporting small, indie businesses. Knitting one repeat at a time. These are the things swirling around in my head right now. Supporting friends, even when it means carving out time that you feel like you don’t have. Supporting small, indie businesses, even when it would be faster or cheaper not to. Knitting one repeat at a time, even when it feels like one repeat is no progress. Supporting friends. Michele Wang, who I’m lucky enough to count as a friend, was in town last weekend doing a couple events for the release of her new Capsule collection for Brooklyn Tweed! So I swung by Purl Soho on Friday evening to pick up a copy, pet all the samples, and give...
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