We recently connected with Ashley Plath and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

My great grandmother, Sylvia, taught me many crafts during my time with her. We quilted together, in fact, I still have the quilt she and I made when I was 6 for my birthday that year, sewed clothes and toys, but above everything, was crochet. She could turn yarn into beautiful things, one of my favorites was this beautiful apache tears afghan. So I grabbed a hook, some rainbow yarn she had in her stash, and waited patiently on her instruction. “Chain the whole skein.” was all she said after teaching me to make a slip knot and the basic yarn over and pull through. I hesitated, but once I got into a rhythm, it was easy! I finished within a few days, the whole thing, chained into those little loops with a 5.5mm hook. I showed her proudly what I had accomplished. Then, the air was taken from my sails when she uttered, “Now frog it.” I was in tears…. I had to pull out that entire thing. The many days worth of work… I was devastated. I kept asking her why, and she kept telling me to finish and she would tell me. Once I was done, the ball of yarn wound up again, she told me this. “Now that you have done the hardest parts of crochet, the rest will be a cake walk.” After that moment, I absorbed everything I could, and found she was right. I carried on with projects and helped with blankets, until circumstances took her from me (she moved to Kansas with another family member and passed a year later). I will always carry and cherish those moments shared with me. She gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life, I just didn’t realize it at the time.

I kept up with the crochet journey, off and on over the years of my life. I always turned to it in my time of need to steady my mind and heart. It became a great therapy for me. Still is. I learned so many different stitches over the years, new techniques, methods that were tried and true. I absorbed what I could, learning as much as I could.

I learned that I actually crochet backwards! I came to this realization one day when I was trying to learn to make scales. I was so frustrated with trying to read the patterns, I finally resorted to a YouTube video. I felt like a failure for doing so. But revelation hit… I was actually completely backwards from everyone. Thinking back on it, I came to realize, when my great grandmother taught me, she had sat me across from her, and said, “Do like I do.” , and I followed those instructions to a T. Literally! And here it was years later, I realized, I now had to either relearn so much, reteach myself to do it like everyone else or adapt. So I stayed backwards and just learned to adapt to my way. I see it as my own personal way of holding on to her.

If I can pass on anything to future artists of the string arts, DO NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS. You never know what someone else can share to add to your journey, same with you adding to theirs. I have met some wonderful artists over the years!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Well, my name is Ashley. I am happily married to my best friend, and have 2 great kids. I am a stay at home mom, and after the kids got through their baby stages, I was looking for something to fill the holes in my day. I needed something to calm the brain bees so to speak. So, I turned to a reliable source of calm; yarn and hook.

At first, I was just doing it to pass the time and keep my brain busy while the kids were napping or were playing quietly. With ADHD, I had to. I started making blankets for friends and loved ones as gifts, and playing around with different granny squares, just anything that was interesting and fun at the time.

During that time, I started making animal butt coasters. This was in 2016. They were on the popular side of things. My brain connected some dots… and I started making animal butt granny squares and made a blanket. It was a hit for the person that got it, and she shared it on her social media. IT BLEW UP. I made so many… they were requested for gifts, baby presents, everything. In the end, before I hung up the blanket making days, I made nearly 80 butt blankets. In many sizes, colors and such. I had to take a long needed break. I still feel the itch to make one, but since then have found another thing that actually started me on my path I am currently on.

One day, I was out thrift shopping with the kiddos and my husband, as we did quite a bit, and I found a crochet kit for star wars amigurumi. I bought it and just immediately dove in. I had never made crochet toys before, only flat pieces or clothes up to that point, and poured over the pages hungrily. Let me tell you, I was intimidated at first. And the first toy… it was something! I still laugh about that first Yoda I made. so uneven, so weird looking… he looked like a Yoda potato. I saved a picture of it, and I look back fondly at it when I need a reminder of where I have come from. That weird little potato Yoda awakened something in me that day, and I had to achieve it! So I got better and better at the craft of amigurumi. I started making my own patterns. And I grew my craft into what it is today.

Since that potato, I have crafted my art into being able to build just about any shape, character, animal you can think of. I love taking challenges. One being an almost human sized bear, others being video game characters and others being something a kid would draw for me. My husband and kiddos have been super supportive of my journey, often giving me ideas and critique along the way. That support was much needed and appreciated. And Left Hook Me was born. After I had a name and my craft was honed in, I started doing craft fairs, selling on Etsy and Facebook. 2017 was the year it all began.

In 2019, during the beginning of the pandemic, I had to lay the hooks aside, close my online stores, to home school my kids. My son and I have asthma, and I have fibromyalgia, so we couldn’t afford to get sick. It was a tough decision, but had to be made for my family. During that time, we also moved to a new state, lost some loved ones, and got met with a few hardships in the form of job loss and our house fire. But, along with my family, crochet was always there to help me through the moments it was needed. We finally got to the other side of the challenges, stronger as a family, and with many, MANY new ideas, goals and a path to a bright future. New friends were made along the way, one family in particular, giving me an opportunity to get my art into the world again.

In 2021, I remember a friend of mine was going to a local game store to ask some questions, and I threw one of my latest creations at him and one of my contact cards, said “If they like that and feel like it would find a place on their shelves, tell them to call me for more.” Later that afternoon, my friend came back, money in hand, and a message from the shop. “Bring MORE!” Apparently the item had sold the minute it came into view of one of the patrons in the back, and from that first sale, my items grew in popularity in that close knit group that I now call my little family of misfits. I even started working in the shop a few days a week until it closed recently… just temporary though, to focus on bigger things. I am and forever will be grateful for the opportunity to find Runes and Relics.

I have since found a comfortable balance of filling requests and being able to create new ideas since my humble beginnings, and I am lucky enough I can monetize my craft and not rely on it to pay my bills. Just enough to keep me going with materials. I wish that others were in that boat with me, and I have seen some talented crafters grow to hate their craft because they had to push for sales to keep their family afloat, or push themselves beyond their limits to “make it”.

One thing I would like everyone to know about Left Hook Me… It is me. I am it. We are the same thing. It isn’t a brand, it is a part of me. If you get something made by me, just know, there are hours of love, dedication and years of practice and skill building that goes into every piece. My soul is in every piece. My heart is in every piece. And I love to see people smile.

My craft has grown into other avenues as well over the years. I also make jewelry! I was gifted a bunch of materials and tools, and dove into it with a lust for learning. I am not the greatest, but I put the same passion into each piece.

I owe so much to that first moment Sylvia Perkins sat me down in front of her on her bed, with my rainbow yarn and 5.5mm red hook (I still have it!!).

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing I had to unlearn over the years, NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO LIKE YOUR ART, or will they like you sharing your art where it doesn’t belong.

In the beginnings, I was really into making different video game characters because there was a challenge to it for them to look right. I was still really new into amigurumi, and patterns were still giving me trouble because I couldn’t make them work for me, and before I knew about free patterns, paid patterns seemed a waste to me. Now, I am more careful about what I make and sell to avoid breaking copyright laws and such, but in those early days, I was just in the moment of creating and proud that I could bring a picture to life. One thing in particular, was a tonberry from final fantasy. I still get a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about those events that unfolded in those 24 hours after sharing, and I hope no one else has to experience this.

I had made this creature by looking at several in-game pictures I found on Pinterest and google, because at that point I hadn’t figured out why patterns didn’t work out for me as a backwards crocheter. No pattern, just looking at pictures and figuring it out. I had done similarly with other creatures and characters, and was proud of the results, enough so I had them on my Facebook page and my website I had just started building. The items were not for sale,just there to show what I had been making. In one of the craft groups I was in on Facebook, a person posted a picture of their tonberry they had crocheted, that they had made by following a pattern someone else posted online, and I thought it was adorable. It was from a free pattern. In the comments, I posted my own picture, along with many other people doing the same thing, mind you, and even said, I wish mine looked as good as yours! Great job! This person then went on a 24 hour campaign to tear literally every creation I ever did to pieces, ugly comments on my pictures both on Facebook and my website, messages telling me to go die, I should just quit while I’m ahead because I wasn’t any good… even going as far as trying to get other creators and pattern writers, who had no idea why they had been sent my links to begin with, to jump in on the carnage. I took down my website, my Facebook page… I even was ready to throw out my supplies due to the harassment. I felt defeated. I was done. 24 hours of this brutality… I was feeling pretty down. Until I checked my email a few days later after I felt it had finally died down. It was the creator that wrote the pattern the person used for their tonberry. And this person was so kind. They chatted with me for over and hour that day, encouraging me to keep going. That all amigurumi was was shapes sewn to other shapes and then stuffed to look like a 3d thing and no one owned crochet shapes. Who was anyone to tell another person to give up on something as relaxing as crochet? To say the things this person did. The pattern writer encouraged me to keep going, and so I did. A few other creators and pattern writers reached out after as well, apologizing for what this person had done and hoped I wouldn’t listen to them and keep going. I do hope that the person that tried to destroy my confidence eventually found peace…

The lessons I took away from this experience were these:

Not everyone is going to be nice. There are some that will tear others down for no reason other than to be mean. Be careful who you share with and where you share.

Choose where you share carefully. It is not a good idea to share your craft on someone else’s post, unless they ask you to. Even then, do it with caution. It is always best to just stay in your own space with your creations. I see a lot of crafters posting pictures, on others pages even, pictures of their own creations that are the same as the OP… that’s a big no no. It is ok to be proud, but not on someone else’s page… Take it from me… it will turn into a horror show if you aren’t careful where you post.

And finally, not all creators are up their own butts on their craft. There are some out there, that like myself, love seeing the craft become popular over the years. I love seeing the creativity, the art, the love. Makes my heart happy to see so many find the peace I found so many years ago. I enjoy talking to others about the craft, sharing creations, encouraging others and creating a community. I hope more and more artists can get into this head space one day.

Keep in mind though, stealing art is bad. If someone worked hard to create a pattern, take a stylized photo of something beautiful, shoot a film they wrote the screenplay for, anything that comes from the creative mind… they deserve the credit and recognition for it. Don’t take it from them.

Learn from me. Be careful and be respectful in the community guys!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The best thing society can do to support art… buy art. Plain and simple. Go to craft shows, go to local shops for gifts and such. Support your child in the arts. Encouragement, support… these things go a long way.

Without art… we would not have the wonders that flesh out the museums so many of us enjoy pattering through, wiling away the time, gulping in the beauty like air we need to breathe. Without art, we wouldn’t have books, magazines, the internet, anything that brings you information! Art Keeps us going. It inspires the mind. It brightens mood. It speaks to hearts. Art can be found anywhere from your local sales add to the design of your hospitals. Without art, we wouldn’t have doctors or engineers. We wouldn’t have maps, airplanes, travel, the desire to experience other cultures. Art is the gateway to the world. Without artists, so many things would still be a fever dream.

Support art in school. Donate supplies, help keep it part of the curriculum. Support local artists by spreading the word! Tipping! Gifting supplies! There are so many ways to support artists.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lefthookme/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088377481882

Image Credits

All of these pictures are taken by Left Hook Me, patterns written by Left Hook Me, original art of characters belong to the shows creators and writers. I do not take credit for the original character art, just the crochet art.