Fiber Trends

Address: 315 Colorado Park Place, East Wenatchee

Phone: 884-8631

Web: fibertrends.com

EAST WENATCHEE — the death of one of the knitting world’s most-beloved designers and innovators has left a huge vacuum, which craft enthusiasts say may not be filled for years, if ever.

Local friends and industry observers said last week that Bev Galeskas — the founder of East Wenatchee-based Fiber Trends, the largest distributor of knitting patterns in the U.S. — helped push knitting into a new era of style, comfort and popularity through her best-selling books, spirited teaching and updated patterns for the age-old craft.

Galeskas died Dec. 29 after a yearlong fight with cancer. She was 60.

“This is tragic loss that was felt around the industry, around the world,” said Mary Ann Corning, owner of Elite Needlework in Wenatchee and Galeska’s friend for more than two decades. “She helped introduce knitting to a whole new generation — both women and men — by using modern designs and technologies for patterns and yarns. She was amazing.”

Galeskas has been credited with helping yank the handicraft out of three decades of stagnation, said Corning, by catching the interest of young women with fresh, even sexy, designs. Apparel such as off-the-shoulder shawls, fitted jackets and sleeveless tunics have become everyday projects for a new round of knitting enthusiasts.

Fiber Trends also offers hundreds of designs for knitted baby items, afghans, totes and purses and even toy koala bears and flamingos. Galeskas’ design for felted clogs — a type of sturdy, knitted slipper — has sold tens of thousands of patterns to become one of the world’s best-selling knitting projects. and her popular book, “Felted Knits,” has sold upward of 60,000 copies to help earn Galeskas a reputation as the “Queen of Felting.”

Felting is a knitting technique that results in a dense, warm, woolen fabric similar to felt that’s perfect for hats and footwear.

According to friends and relatives, Galeskas got a late start in knitting — beginning her 30-year relationship with needles and yarn when she was 29 years old. for years, she designed patterns at her kitchen table, reported her husband, Joseph, and gave or sold them to friends. “The business grew from there,” he said, “spreading to fill the kitchen, then the dining room, then the living room.”

As a business, Fiber Trends took shape in 1994. Based in Bellingham, Galeskas sold patterns to local yarn shops and through national distributors — and sales boomed.

In 2001, the Galeskases moved to East Wenatchee, where Fiber Trends added new product lines and trendy new patterns. In 2005, the business became the exclusive U.S. distributor for Naturally New Zealand Yarns, which produced a sales surge that required the construction of their current East Wenatchee warehouse and production facility.

“What sets Bev’s designs apart from all the rest?” asked Jan Meredith-Evans, who with Judith Jorgensen owns Cashmere Cottage Yarn, a knitting shop in Cashmere. “They’re fun. They’re fun and stylish and comfortable.”

Galeskas’ designs also are “items that almost anyone can wear,” Jorgensen said. “They’re not so sophisticated. They’re not from the pages of ‘Vogue Knitting.’ they feel good and fit right.”

But good design was just part of Galeskas’ magic, said the two store owners. She also offered unbridled support for local knitting shops with how-to help on choosing products and running a business, and with personal appearances to greet knitting fans and teach everything from basic to advanced techniques.

“She could spend a whole day at our store, meeting people and offering tips and advice,” said Meredith-Evans.

In addition, Galeskas was instrumental in helping establish the North Central Washington Knitters Guild, a group formed in 2009 that’s grown to more than 70 knitters. On her death, her extensive library of knitting and fiber books went to the Guild’s library. the donation “ensured her wish that her books continue to educate new and experienced knitters in the area,” said Jackie Gabaldo, an accomplished knitter and quilter who served as the Guild’s first president.

“Bev’s death is a huge loss to the knitting community and a huge loss to the Wenatchee Valley,” she added. “We can’t fill her absence — she had too large a presence.”

Joseph Galeskas said he promised his wife to keep Fiber Trends up and running for the next few years. “But that might not be as easy as it sounds,” he chuckled. “See, I was the muscle — hauling boxes, making deliveries — and she was the brains. She had all the smarts in this operation.”

He paused a second. “In many ways, we’re all going to miss her terribly.”