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

living in maxi skirts – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 46

19 Jun 2015

The Self-Made Wardrobe

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made. It’s a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels – it’s a year about noticing patterns, trying things, and observing what happens. Day 316 – Friday, June 12th archer button up shirt // black tank top // black maxi bead crochet bracelets // rings // flip flops Day 317 – Saturday, June 13th archer button up shirt // black tank top // vine circle skirt robot clock necklace // bracelets // rings // flip flops Day 318 – Sunday, June 14th black tank top // grey maxi skirt (new!) long necklace // rings // cuff // flip flops Day 319 – Monday, June 15th archer button up shirt // black tank top // grey maxi skirt bicycle necklace // rings // flip flops Day 320 – Tuesday, June 16th archer button up shirt // black...

a new skirt, an interview & a question

17 Jun 2015

what's in the works

Each Wednesday, I take stock of the projects I’m working on. What I’m Working on… : a new skirt! sometimes project just fall together beautifully – this project was one of those projects (…after I tried & miserably failed to make a hoodie out of this fabric…) This maxi skirt is hopefully one of the many that I’ll make & live in this summer. : if you missed it on Friday, I was interviewed about knitting & knitwear design by Robin Hunter for her blog and you can read the interview here. : much of this week spent working on the roughest of rough drafts of an ebook about color (understanding color theory, choosing color, combining colors, mixing colors, etc.) and so, I wanted to ask: what trips you up or what sticking points do you run into, when you’re planning color combinations or working with color (in knitting or...

What fabric are you trying to create?

16 Jun 2015

Tips & Tricks

One of the things I love about knitting, is that as the knitter, you’re literally making the fabric, (and manipulating it at the same time). Unlike in sewing, where you start with a flat piece of fabric and remove parts of it to create a garment (or bag, or whatever). Knitting starts with thin air, and some string – you get to create the fabric from scratch. Each time you knit, you’re creating fabric that has never been created before. This means if you don’t think about & plan your fabric, you get a (not always awesome) surprise. I love lace weight yarn, I knit shawls in it, and I knit sweaters in it, but that doesn’t mean I want the same fabric for both types of projects. I like my sweater fabric open and airy. I like my shawl fabric a little denser, with excellent stitch definition. And I...

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.