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

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Startitis Strikes Again

I thought it was done. I truly thought that casting on four shawls (plus one secret deadline project) in 14 days would be enough to satisfy the beast that is startitis. But it would seem not.

Saturday morning over coffee I started doing the math for a sweater. Why? For sh*ts and giggles apparently. (I still don’t know why I thought this was a good idea.) Then I charted it all out. (Just to see how the shaping would work in pattern of course.) And then I cast on. (Because the cast on number seemed a little high and I wanted to see it in real life.) At this point I was doomed. I cast on, started knitting, and soon Saturday, Sunday and Monday were all gone in a puff of smoke, while I was left standing there with 5 inches of sweater.

If all of this seems a bit haphazard, and not very well thought it. It was. And I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. I even made a list.

Things that probably could/should have been better planned/thought out before casting on, which will now come around to bit me in the a$$:

  1. the needles- one full size women’s cardigan/jacket on 3.00mm needles (that’s tiny folks)- check
  2. the steek/yarn combo- three steeks in a superwash merino/silk blend- check
  3. the steeks- a knitter who has never done steeks before- check
  4. the numbers/design- a knitter/designer who has never successfully completed a sweater before (the Rhinebeck sweater still isn’t finished, and my first sweater doesn’t count, I might have knit a few other sweaters but I obviously wasn’t paying attention)- check
  5. the yarn- a full size sweater begun with only one ball of each color on hand- check

Rather than freak out about the fact that I really don’t know what’s happening with this sweater, I tried to convince myself it was going to be ok because I didn’t have a sweaters quantity of yarn. I was knitting with the left overs from the mittens, and even though Cascade Heritage Silk has crazy yardage (437 yards per ball), I would eventually run out of yarn before the sweater was finished. At which point I could put the sweater down, back away slowly and focus on other things. At least until I bought more yarn.

(Which turned out to be this afternoon.)

So armed with two more balls of each color, which I’m guessing will get me through the body (no, I haven’t calculated yardage, remember the whole haphazard thing?), I’m giving up all hope of working on other non-deadline projects, and am just along for the ride.

 

 

 

PS. Aren’t steeks pretty!