Here is the Classic Camel Vest for my FIL, all blocked and ready to be wrapped. I'm still not 100% satisfied with how the buttons look, but after 4 tries, enough is enough. I plan to bring along my blocking pins and iron when we visit in case it is a little small for him. He gave me measurements, but they were based on a suede vest, not a knitted piece, so we'll see. The trusty Cascade worked beautifully for the project, and although I would look like walking vomit in this color, I think it will look good on my FIL. The pattern only took about 4 and a half skeins of yarn, so I have one and a half left to use for another project. The gold would make a nice accent color.

Also newly finished is this Flower Basket Shawl for my Grandmother-in-law.
I used 4 and a half skeins of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK and long size 8 Addis. The superwash was sometimes a little slippery on the needles at the beginning of a row, but otherwise the combo worked well. I did 11 repeats of the lower basket chart. I probably could have done at least 13 considering the amount of yarn I have left, but I have limited time, and was anxious to finish everything for the Christmas deadline. Unblocked, the shawl measured 50" x 24", and after a Eucalan bath and blocking, it measures 66" x 36", which will hopefully be a good size for my GIL. If not, I'd be more than happy to keep it for myself!

This is a great pattern, one that would be good for a first lace project. I didn't feel the need to use any lifelines and could even pay attention to a movie (not subtitled) while working on it. I had started this just after getting into lace knitting, but then put it aside for over a year. It was nice to pick this project up again and discover that it felt much quicker and easier than it did when I started it.

Blocking this was much simpler than the Swallowtail Shawl I did a while back because I used the Yarn Harlot method instead of trying to keep the top edge straight with a million pins.

Here is a close-up of the yarn threaded through the top.
It also helped to have a new blocking board, a.k.a. our old bed that we recently replaced and put in the guest room. I had been blocking everything on a towel on my bedroom carpet, and this always prompted my DH to complain that he might get up in the night and impale his foot. I always said I thought it would be unlikely since the T part of the t-pin is the part he would step on, not the point, but he never believed me.

I hope to get pics of all gifts, including the Tailored Scallops, being modeled by their recipients.