Shape and boundary

"The main part, though, is sensation and touch; the understanding, too, of beginning and end. Shape and boundary. Of one stitch, one row after another: how a scarf, a life, a person proceeds. For the time being she is still practicing the arts of casting on, holding a steady tension, attempting to purl and not losing or gaining stitches row by row. She likes the need for paying attention. 'Then there is how to end well,' she has mentioned. 'Cast off, it is called.'" --Joan Barfoot, Exit Lines