the neverending sleeves

I could take a picture and post it, but what would you see? Two sleeves getting imperceptibly longer as the hours progress.

I’m knitting both sleeves of Pam at the same time so that I can be sure the two sleeves will be identical. It’s a common enough method, I know—my mom always did it this way, too—and it only slightly goes against my ‘one thing at a time’ mentality. But it means progress appears slow. I keep trying to remind myself that “hey! when you’re done, you’re done!” but that is little comfort when I’m now squeezing a million stitches onto these small circulars, and I think I’m still miles away from finished.

One thing that continues to fascinate me: The circumference of sleeves at their widest is about the same as the full width of the back! I think sleeve and I think little thing hanging off the side of the body. But what I forget is that sleeves are actually significant pieces of the work! They’re not like the two fronts of the cardigan, which each knit up in two nights. They’re like doing the back all over again, almost—and twice! No wonder it’s taking forever.

Plus I occasionally manage to get confused, and it’s because the rows are so damn long: Am I still really only on row 1 of this repeat? Or am I on row 3? Because it feels like it must be row 3, I’ve been at it for so long.