Finally

The slowest part of a raglan is the inch or two above the bottom of the arm hole. It makes sense -- this is when the maximum number of stitches are on the needle, and there is considerable suspense involved. If you're knitting from the top down, you're just about to put the sleeve stitches on hold and continue on the body of the sweater, considerably speeding up your progress. If you're knitting from the bottom up, you're going to decrease stitches much more gradually, but you're likely about to start something really interesting for the yoke of the sweater.

In just. a. few. more. inches. Which have taken me an entire week, thanks to my heretofore unsuspected ability to make every knitting mistake possible right when the maximum number of stitches are in play. But I stuck with it, and today, finally, the sleeves are off the needle.

The cables marking the raglan shaping were divided exactly in half by the removal of the sleeve stitches, leaving me toying with the idea of continuing one cable down each side of the sweater. Others have done it. I don't think it adds anything to the sweater, since they're mostly out of sight (and will probably be rubbed by the sleeves), but it's oddly satisfying to contemplate.