It feels like it has been forever, but it has only been half of a sleeve. It's a pretty hefty sleeve, but still, every time I hold it up to my arm, I notice that it hasn't gotten any longer. It's a knitting black hole.
I always tell myself, "oh, I've only got the sleeves left, I'm almost done," when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. I've already knit an entire skein into this sleeve. The sleeves will be at least a third of the knitting on this sweater, not just an itty bitty little task before finishing. It's sort of like child birth, I never seem to remember. And with all of the fidgety thought process involved in the direction to "increase one stitch on each end and take into pattern," it's much slower than knitting the body pieces.
Despite all that, I'll confess to you in confidence that I'm really enjoying the sleeve knitting process. The mental exercise has reinforced my belief in the accuracy of studies like the 2012 Mayo Clinic one that conclude knitting keeps your brain working. Watching the cable form and expand out across the increased stitches is wonderful. And, one day, I will have sleeves.
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Knitting sleeves always makes me think "sleeve island," as one of my longtime knitter friend calls it. This ALWAYS makes me think of Gilligan's Island and I end up with a terrible earworm. Want an earworm of your own? Then watch this.
