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

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Programing

to bring you, math and a two-day-last-minute-scarf. I have spent the past few days completely immersed in math, and ribbing. One of my potential test knitters for A Study in Grey, wouldn’t have been able to finish the shawl by the deadline I had set, and suggested a baby blanket instead. Now, rather than being hated by new mothers everywhere for simply squaring the stole, and ending up with a blanket that is 100% alpaca (and therefore non machine washable), laceweight, and knit on size 2s. I’ve redesigned the stole into a blanket pattern (currently named SiG Blankie, but I’m working on a better name), that calls for Knit Picks Stroll (formerly known as Knit Picks Essential), and is knit on size 5s. The blanket will come in two sizes baby and adult, while the stole only comes in one. Both patterns will be made available separately, as well as...
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Handspun

I washed and blocked a whole bunch of knitting and spinning a few days ago, but will only be posting about the handspun today. In total there were 3 skeins of yarn, one stole, one scarf, the rug waiting to become a blanket, a pair of socks, and a cowl/collar thing. I don’t have any good blocking pictures, so there won’t be a post about everything, but the shawl does need to be reblocked, so there will be a post about that soon. Here’s a picture of the three yarns, left to right they are Raspberries, Belle, and Rubies. Raspberries, is approximately 250 yards, 3.64oz, of 100% super-wash merino, from Zen String (now wildflower whimsy) in Raspberry Swirl, ending up at 14wpi. The fiber originally had a lot more white spots that got dyed over and blended together while the yarn was soaking. Belle has showed up in the past...
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Mail Day

Yesterday I got a delivery from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The skein on the left is STR lightweight in Gail’s Autumn Joy, and the skein on the right is STR mediumweight in Dragon Dance. Gail’s Autumn Joy is destined to be a semi-lacy scarf inspired by snakeskin, and Dragon Dance is going to be knit into a second Birdy Shawl, with a very much more updated pattern and chart. With the arrival of these two skeins I have a basket full of yarns to swatch. So, I’m planning on spending a large chunk of tomorrow first fighting with the printer, and then swatching, because other than Icy Fields and Que Sera (which is currently being ignored) I don’t have anything on the needles. So here’s two more Icy Fields photos. In this photo is a little closer and you can see more of the stitch definition. I’ve knit another 4...
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