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

diving back into crochet

Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on. It turns out that all I needed to dive back into my giant crochet cardigan was a couple days of cold rainy weather, a couple days with only one or two commitments, and the beginnings of a cold. Curling up under what’s basically a lap blanket, for a couple days, did double duty in fighting off my cold/flu thing, and catapulting my cardigan towards finished. I’m about halfway through the final round, then I just have to weave in a pile of ends, wash and block the square, and sew a quicky seam. And then I’ll finish the first made-by-me-for-me garment since the self-made wardrobe project. Also! The Great Northern Kickstarter campaign has just 64 hours to go (at the time of hitting publish on this post. So! if you’d love some Twin Peaks inspired gently absurd and entirely...
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gentle absurdity & jelly doughnut sweaters – An interview with Teresa Gregorio about Twin Peaks inspired knitwear

Gentle absurdity, a tv show with a cult following, and sweaters inspired by jelly doughnuts & log ladies? Count me in! Great Northern, a Twin Peaks inspired knitwear collection has all of that. The brainchild of Leah Coccari-Swift (aka Ruby Submarine) & Teresa Gregorio (aka Canary Knits), this collection includes 10 sweater patterns + bundles of accessories that translate the absurdity of Twin Peaks into knitable, wearable, vintage inspired knitwear. I love reading interviews with designers, and authors, and artists, so when Teresa asked me if I’d be interested in interviewing her for the Great Northern Kickstarter Supporting Blog Tour – I was all “yes please!” So here’s my interview with Teresa, she’s a designer, lover of neon colors, and generally a fabulous person, it was an absolute pleasure reading through her answers. HC: For those of us who haven’t watched Twin Peaks before, can you talk a little bit...
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dabbling in embroidery

Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on. I added a couple more rounds to my bead crochet snake, but the main project that got my focus this week was an ancient embroidery project that I’ve finally decided what to do with. The stitching is simple, geometric & meditative – so really, it’s all about picking colors. I can also see a glimmer of the end of  the month of crazy busy. Fingers crossed. But tomorrow, I’m super excited to share an interview with Teresa Gregorio (aka CanaryKnits), all about the new book she’s working on (and kickstarting) with Leah Coccari-Swift (aka RubySubmarine). The book is a Twin Peaks inspired collection called Great Northern, that promises some amazing sweater patterns inspired by log ladies and jelly doughnuts. It’s always wonderful talking with Teresa, and I can’t wait to share what she has to say. No related posts.