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

partway through binding off my sweater

02 Nov 2016

what's in the works

Each Wednesday, I a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. Got about halfway through the bind off at the neckline of my Banaue Breeze last night. I know a lot of knitters don’t like stopping partway through a bind off (or even a row for that matter), but I’ve never been one of them. If I were, I’d probably be even further away from finishing this sweater than I am. As it stands, there’s still a chance that I’ll be able to finish this sweater in time to get some wear out of it this fall! No related posts.

Making v Minimalism – I love my stuff, and also it turns out, I routinely need fewer things than I think I will.

01 Nov 2016

Making & Creativity, thoughts & things

(This is maybe the second cleanest, a desk of mine has ever been.) I lived out of a suitcase for months, and never touched two of the dresses I packed. I packed a suitcase for 10 weeks of traveling, and ended up living out of it for 8 months. I did start to add more clothes to that suitcase sized wardrobe, and it turned out I didn’t need to. As it turns out, I routinely need fewer things than I think I will. It’s taken me about two months to finally unpack and sort through everything I had in storage during the 8 months I was living out of a carry-on suitcase (and a purse). The sorting has left in its wake, about two garbage bags to get donated. And I get the sense there’s more to come. I’ve never desired that my space, and my things...

Banaue Breeze home stretch

26 Oct 2016

what's in the works

Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. Just six rounds, weaving in a lot of end, and a good blocking before my sweater is done! Yay sweater! No related posts.

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.