I was born in Edinburgh and was taught to knit, sew and crochet, at an early age, by her German mother. These skills gave me an advantage when I went on to attend an Art Foundation Course where I won an award for the most promising art student of her year. I specialised professionally in graphic design and then book design, but I continued to work with textiles in my spare time, exhibiting as an embroiderer, before turning my attention back to knit and crochet. I have written several books and contributed to books and magazines with the aim of making techniques more accessible and showing that the time spent on a project can be as rewarding as the final product.