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

getting back into the swing of things

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. Whew! Hello 2018! Part of me feels like I’ve begun this whole year already behind, but another part of me reasons that, that is, of course, not possible, because a) a beginning implies clean slate, and a clean slate cannot coexist with “being behind.” And b) because the whole concept of “behind” might very well be an illusion, at least in the “we are all stardust” version of reality. The end of 2017 coincided with wrapping up the second edition of the third book in the Shawl Geometry Series, which had a satisfying element of poetic timing about it. It turns out that the that third book took basically a year to update, and updating the whole series took two. After that was Christmas, and then New Years, and then trying to...
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a longer sleeve, and a finished book!

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. And Shawl Geometry Book Three is finished, the update is sent out, and the latest edition is available for purchase! I’m delighted that this is finally finished! It took far (FAR, FAR) longer than I originally thought it would to edit this book (which turned into completely rewriting it). And a little part of me is still shocked that it’s finished – I don’t need to make any more notes, or change any more commas, or check any more page numbers. It’s done, done. You can learn more about all three of the books in the Shawl Geometry Series here. (Books one, two, and three, are also available on Ravelry, if you prefer purchasing there). In other news, the first sleeve of my Fairchild sweater has gotten much longer, but it’ll still...
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a sweater body and finished edits

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at. The bottom hem of my Fairchild sweater is finished! After I got back from traveling for Thanksgiving, I put the sleeve of my sweater away, and started working on the body again. I finished up the ribbing at the hem of the sweater, and worked a tubular bind off so that the hem of the ribbing would be seamless. Next I’ll continue working on the first sleeve, and the second, then join everything together and finish the neckline. Over on Who Wears Who, I wrote about a sweater that I’ve been wearing TONS! It’s a mens sweater that I never would have picked up on my own, but that I love having in my wardrobe, and always gives me 1920s sportswear sweater vibes. AND! The edits to Shawl Geometry Book 3 are...
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