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

The Versio Sweater – finished!

16 Oct 2014

FOs, Projects, The Self-Made Wardrobe Garments

Knit. Washed. Worn. Finished. And I love it. I love the crazy colors, and the striping, and the fit, and the hood. Love, love, love. Apologies for inclusion of the phone, but it’s how I’m controlling the camera… Project Details The Pattern: Versio by Ankestrick The Yarn: 1 skein of Julie Asselin’s “Merletto,” 1 skein of Sweet Georgia’s “Merino Silk Lace,” 1 skein of Fiberspates’ “Scrumptious,” and 2 skeins of Cascade’s “Forest Hills.” The Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) needle The Gauge: 24 sts = 4 inches; 30 rows = 4 inches The Size: small The Modifications: lots : held 2 strands of lace weight together throughout – instead of one : different color sequence – but kept the stripes at 12 rows/stripe : left out the cording : added a hood – following Rililie’s notes The sleeves are made using the contiguous method for working seamless top down set...

this week was a week full of sweaters

15 Oct 2014

what's in the works

Each Wednesday I post little snippets about what’s happening, and what I’m working on. You can see all of the Wednesday posts here. It’s a week of sweaters… I finally washed and blocked one of the first garments I made for the self-made wardrobe project. I kept putting it off, and putting it off, because I thought I was going to over-dye it, but the somewhat strange pooling is growing on me. My boring black sweater is done!!! Done. Blocked. Worn. Yay! It might have been a nightmare to knit – but I absolutely love it. And I have finished photos of the Versio Sweater to show you tomorrow! I still have my transitional sweater, my jade sweater, my inherited sweater, and my sweater jacket to finish – but I’m feeling a little bit better about fall & winter. No related posts.

The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 10

10 Oct 2014

The Self-Made Wardrobe

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made, for one year. You can read more about the project, and catch up on past posts, here. Week 10 is finished! And I’m trying something a little bit different with the post this week. So leave a comment, and let me know what you think. Day 64 – 10/3: black tank, black maxi, blue kimono, bead crochet necklace, black flats, various rings Day 65 – 10/4: black tank, black & white 2 layer circle skirt, white maxi pinned up (new!), blue kimono, my default long necklace, sneakers, various rings Day 66 – 10/5: black tank, cascading flowers skirt, blue kimono, black flats, default long necklace, various rings Day 67 – 10/6: black tank, gingham skirt, jersey vest, brown boots, little princess necklace, various rings Day 68 – 10/7: black tank, black maxi, blue kimono, black flats, default...

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.