Hello and welcome! I’m Holly Chayes

I help makers, thinkers, builders, operators, creators, etc. implement solid containers for creative chaos, and functional systems for sustainable momentum, all in aid of making a life or business you love. 

Right now I’m working with people and businesses in a couple capacities… 

Business

Business coaching and consulting for small businesses ready to dig into the practicalities of what’s next.

When you’ve graduated from mindset-only to mindset+ 

When you’ve built something that functions but doesn’t flow yet.

When you’ve outgrown and overrun what used to work.

Whatever you’re stuck on, we can get you moving to what’s next.

Get in touch here

Individual

Life and clothing magic for individuals who thought they would be more prepared for this moment.

Personal or professional.

Once in a lifetime or every day.

A surprise or something you’ve been working towards for years.

Whatever this moment is, we can get you ready for it.

Discover more here

Projects

Keep Reading

On putting off and finally setting up a library donation

“It’s only… what good could it possibly do… don’t bother…”

Putting off setting up a recurring library donation

I’ve been meaning to set up a nominal monthly recurring library donation for an embarrassingly long time.

Every time I borrow a book, or return a book, or browse the shelves, I think about it. And mean to do it. And fail to do it.

Sometimes I consciously think:

  • “I’ll get to it when I’m at my computer.”
  • “I do it the next time I get my wallet out.”
  • “I’ll put it on the list for admin time.”

But most of the time it’s more of a soft and sly whisper of a voice, that is very familiar, but does not sound like me:

  • “It’s only… what good could it possibly do… don’t bother…”

I doubt I’m the only one who hears this voice. (For the sake of other people’s minds, part of me kind of hopes I am the only one. At the same time, I doubt it and appreciate the company.)

Individualist thinking about collective resources

But I had a realization this morning that finally got me to do it.

That soft, sly, whisper of a voice is speaking individualistically – where a nominal donation by definition does not do much. “Nominal” is right there in the name.

What that voice neglects is that a library is not an individual resource, it’s a collective one. One nominal donation is one nominal donation. But 50? 100? 1,000?? Or more?

The voice is right that one donation doesn’t really matter on its own, but the voice is wrong because one donation doesn’t have to matter on its own. Because we’re not talking about an individual’s resource, we’re talking about a community’s.

Even when any individual action is not the linchpin holding everything together, it still needs to be done.

When the task is too small to bother doing, make the task bigger

I finally did it while writing this piece. It turns out it was not the easiest button to find, and it was not the smoothest checkout process, and it still involved digging out my wallet.

But it is done.

Photo by Shunya Koide on Unsplash

I love a blank page.

But having an ice breaker helps.

Every piece I’ve ever knit has begun with a slip knot. Every set of coaching notes has begun with the date. Journal entries with “good morning”. Designs of all sorts with a spark or a brief or a script.

I love a blank page. It’s like a field of fresh snow – perfect for running though and leaving footprints scattered around the place. Listening to the crunch and squeak. Feeling snow slide into your boot from exuberant running over snow drifts that are a little deeper than you expected. Snow covered trees blending with a snow colored sky as you leave a mark on the world that will one day melt.

I love a blank page.

But having an ice breaker helps.

So consider this an ice breaker for Poetry & Practicalities. It may just be what was percolating along side everything else.

Photo by Wladislaw Sokolowskij on Unsplash

puttering, percolating, steeping and brewing

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at.

Last week I wrote this Wednesday morning with every intention of posting it. But then never got around to it:

Each Wednesday, I post a snapshot of the projects I’m working on, and where my brain is at.”

That’s the beginning explanation of what I posted each Wednesday for about five years (more sporadically at the beginning), and I’ve missed a couple here and there, but it’s been fairly consistent.

But, I stopped around the New Year, posted once a couple weeks into the new year, and haven’t posted again for a couple more weeks.

At the moment when I read this my immediate reaction is, what am I working on?!

I’m always working on ongoing client work.
I’ve finished knitting the sweater I started a couple months ago, and it’s just waiting for the ends to be woven in.
I’m slowly spinning up a couple batts from a friend.
I’m reading a lot.
I’m writing and talking about the Shawl Geometry Books to introduce them to a wider audience.
I’m working on background things for Who Wears Who. Talking to people about their wardrobe aggravations. (How do you feel about your wardrobe? If we waved a magic wand and your wardrobe was now your dream wardrobe, what would it look like? That sort of thing!)

But after two years of consistently working on a REALLY BIG PROJECT, that feels like nothing.

That list feels like puttering, and housekeeping.

Which is totally valuable!

And also doesn’t feel interesting/desirable/exciting enough to be blogged each week.

And also, also, I know the value in teeny, tiny, seemingly inconsequential steps (after all, a sweater is knit one teeny tiny stitch at a time).

So, I guess the project I’m working on is puttering, and I think I’ll keep puttering until I find a new “big project” to dive headlong into.

But I realized right now that “puttering” isn’t exactly the right word. It’s more like “percolating” or “steeping” or “brewing.” And those tiny gwish-projects are asking for space.

Tiny gwish-projects are brewing. That feels like a FAR more accurate statement.


In the meantime! (While the gwishes percolate).

Penny wrote a lovely review of the Shawl Geometry Series, which you can read here.

And she asked me to write a bit about the driving idea behind the update for the Shawl Geometry Series, so I wrote about how the series has grown and evolved, but always been a place where math didn’t need to be intimidating, or overwhelming, or unapproachable. You can read that piece right here.

I wrote about what is possibly the world’s oldest tee-shirt hack over on Who Wears Who.

And finally, I’ve (slowly) started adding all of the patterns & shapes that are in Shawl Geometry Books to Ravelry! Book One is taking shape right here, if you’ve ever wanted to queue or favorite your go-to shapes.