Ode to Classic Elite Yarns and How I Ended Up On Their Covers!

Yep, that's me!

You may have heard the sad news this week -- Classic Elite Yarns is closing shop. They've been making yarn in some form or another since the 1940's according to their website, wow! Though I've come across their yarns countless times throughout my knitterly life, I have to admit I've only used one CEY yarn, Gatsby. It was a crazy, bulky, and unique tweed that made a great fabric.

Picture from wakana's stash on Ravelry

Remember when Loop-d-Loop came out, by Teva Durham? This is her Diagonal Twist Princess Seam Jacket, which I made back in 2006.

Just took this picture today, it still looks great.

Let's put knitting aside though, because I have a different, much odder relationship with CEY than yarn. The bulk of my knitting life so far was in Montréal, and when I arrived, I joined a local group that met at Starbucks every week called "Montreal Knits".

There I met many Montréal designers like Mona Schmidt, Kate Gilbert (created Twist Collective) and Veronik Avery (now with Brooklyn Tweed, Quince & Co and more). When I first met Veronik she worked for another yarn company that has since closed its doors, Adrienne Vittadini. Man, my first garment ever was an Adrienne Vittadini pattern! Memory lane...

#06 Sleeveless Top from Vogue Knitting S/S 2004

Back in 2009, Veronik branched out into her own brand called St-Denis Yarns, and she needed some models for her pattern books. That's how I landed my first ever knitting mag cover! I was touched she asked, because I had never done any sort of modeling before.

Excellent patterns in this book, see here.

Veronik is an avid photographer, and I always enjoyed our shoots traipsing through the streets of Montréal. We found this vintage car (and license plate!) near where I lived and she said, "Quick, get in front of it before the owner comes back!"

The Gothic Snowfall pullover from St-Denis #1

Now an established model (LOL, a joke a joke!), this is how I came to model for CEY. If you don't know, Classic Elite put out a periodic "Web-Letter" that always included a free pattern. You can access them ALL right here, and I suggest you look through them sooner rather than later because their website might not be around in the future.

Veronik designed a cardigan for them and needed to take some photos. Here we are (actually on St-Denis Boulevard this time) in Web-Letter #55. This is a free pattern!

That day, or shortly after, Veronik asked me if I'd be willing to head down to Maine for a photoshoot for Classic Elite Yarns. Pam Allen, a good friend of hers, was the head of the brand at the time and was always looking for models. If you don't know Pam Allen, she's a prolific designer... and this is exactly 2010, right around the time when she was thinking of creating a new company you probably know very well by now: Quince and Co. She even talked about it when I met her in Portland for the shoot, about how she was going to create a Maine-based brand of US-sourced fibers that embraced the natural world. My my, has she accomplished that, or what?! 😍

Anyway, back to Portland, Maine. I unexpectedly live in Maine now, but let me tell you, in 2010 Maine was nowhere on my radar. I had only been there once when I was little, with my best friend's family, running up and down motel stairs and screaming 15 hours a day in Old Orchard Beach. (Very similar to the movie The Florida Project, I'm serious).

I was just in Portland the other day, and I laughed when I realized that I was staying across the street from the very building where I first entered a true fashion set. There was a wardrobe bar with knits steamed and hanging, and another with borrowed boutique clothing for the styling. A makeup person! Photography backdrops and lighting! The whole shebang! I suddenly felt very amateur.

We actually did much of the shoot on location at local beaches and parks. That's where the watermelon came in, for my cover on "Classic Elite #9109, Picnic". I just found this outtake from the CEY website, I adore it... wish it wasn't so fuzzy.

Firefly Cowl Halter from "Classic Elite #9109, Picnic"

This is where you learn something about yourself. I've watched tons of America's Next Top Model, and they're not kidding when they say that how you look in person can never predict how you come out on camera. It's a real SKILL, and I won't let anyone convince me otherwise. Models who are successful know where to bring out the energy, creativity and angles. The above photo is the only one where that really came out! I found myself not knowing what to do with my hands, struggling with where to move or look next. Super tough.

And it showed, because almost all the photos they used (even for 2 other covers) were of me hidden under hats, behind sunglasses/fruit, from behind or decapitated! 😆

Summer Sox Back Button Tank from "Classic Elite #9110, Beach"

Sprout Feather and Fan Tee from "Classic Elite #9110, Beach"

Provence Beach Coverup from "Classic Elite #9110 Beach"

Pebbles ZigZag Sleeveless from "Classic Elite #9110, Beach"

Soft Linen Sideways Lace Vest from "Classic Elite #9111, Farmer's Market"

OK, I exaggerate. There were some full-on shots, but I feel like a preteen in this one...

Drop Stitch Tank from "Classic Elite #9112, Gallery"

And a great aunt in this one! 😂

Summer Set Faux-Crochet Skirted Vest from "Classic Elite #9112, Gallery"

So funny, that one really makes me laugh. Anyway, there was the one head on photo that I liked, and I even loved the pattern. I have since used this angle frequently in my own photography.

Pebbles Zigzag with Sleeves from "Classic Elite #9110, Beach"

Unlike the St-Denis mags, I never received any of these booklets. That's why I'm scouring the web for grainy photos! You see, I was the only knitter of the group other than the designers Pam Allen and Cecily Glowik-MacDonald (who is a wonderful soul, by the way!). It was absolutely unusual for them to have a model that knitted, and that's when I realized that big yarn brands use models from agencies, not friends or family. It's a business like any other!

And that, my friends, was the end of my short modeling career. 😊 It was a unique and fantastic experience, despite the dragging hours on the set. Daaaaaamn, makeup, set up, shooting... it takes forever. I did learn how to take better photos of myself in my knits and crucially, I learned about my asymmetries and how to hold myself better in front of the camera.

Eight years later, that's a lot of successful self photography!

As for Classic Elite Yarns, it's certainly the end of an era. You can read more about why they are closing here. I wish them all much happiness in future endeavors.