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

Much, much to do

So this might be a short post, but I’ll see what I can squeeze in. First up, Rhinebeck. Rhinebeck, as always, was a whole lot of fun. I bought some yarn, and some fiber, but I was really nice to my wallet and only bought 2 skeins of yarn, and 6 total ounces of fiber. I’m quite impressed with myself. The first skein is from the Oasis Farm Fiber Mill booth. It’s a lovely 3 ply, two of the plys are a dark (almost navy, but not quite) shade of blue, with the third ply dyed a very light blue. It didn’t come with a tag, and I can’t find it on their website, but from what I can remember it is around 200 yards, 100% wool, and it seems to be about a worsted weight. I’m thinking that this is destined to become a hat and mitt set for...
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Update

The original designs page is now up to date and has the Birds of a Feather Tam, and the Dancing Girls Scarf, (both Ravelry links). Also a Rhinebeck recap will happen just as soon as I get a smidgen of free time during which I can get my photos together, and the post written. No related posts.

Birds of a Feather Tam

The Birds of a Feather Tam is now available for purchase as a download, for $4.00 either on Ravelry, or directly through the blog buy clicking the buy now button. A surprisingly simple knit that combines colorwork and lace, to create a wreath of sitting birds, and a star of feathers. Knit in worsted weight yarn on size 6 needles this hat knits up surprisingly quickly, even with the lace and the colorwork. Originally knit to be smaller, and simply perch on the head, this pattern includes instructions for a slouchier version as well. The band of ribbing around the edge means that this tam will stretch to fit most head sizes, even though it was originally designed for a 22” head.   This tam has options for a slouchier version, as well as a more fitted version. This pattern only includes charts, and not written out stitch patterns. Yarn:...
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