What satisfaction I canst have

Completo! I have not one but two FOs for you today! 1st, Mom's hederas...soon to be blocked, wrapped and sent out to her for the big day; and the MIL bag...finished, felted, blocked and awaiting a button. This requires careful consideration but it's so close I'm calling it done. I'm busily working on Mom's shawl as well. Having a birthday and Christmas in the same month really makes gift knitting challenging. Of course I could just buy her a present, like I've done for the past [insert ridiculous # of years here] years but now that perhaps my knitting is decent enough to foist on, er I mean give to, others I feel the need to make her something. Of course many argue that handmade gifts should be reserved for anyone under the age of 12, but these people are CLEARLY not knitters. Honestly, which would you rather have, a handknitted pair of socks in your favorite color or an [insert ridiculously expensive and probably useless tchotchke]? As my sister and I remark annually, what's most important is the "tear" factor...will your gift be the one to make Mom cry? We have never actually wagered a sum on this event but the competition is nonetheless quite fierce. I'm hoping the socks make the grade. This is the first time I've actually sat down and knitted a project from start to finish with only minor dalliances with other objects on needles. Most of the time I'm what the Harlot calls a process knitter. I love to figure out how stitches and patterns work. I'll knit and re-knit the same design in swatches over and over again until I understand it. I must have about 20 UFOs in various states...most of which I haven't even put on ravelry. But this time I decided to just work through the boredom and just get.it.done. Granted, Cookie A.'s pattern is just different enough to keep me going, but I crave variety. It actually cost me some mental energy to concentrate long enough to get through second sock syndrome. But I made it. I did the happy dance..you know the one, you're just as guilty as I am...all around the apt. Of course I was wearing the socks on my hands so I didn't spoil them. To finish the MIL's bag I would love to use a vintage button but I haven't been collecting them *shame* so I will need to go on a vintage button hunt. Oh the tragedy.
We spent all day yesterday painting the gf's studio in preparation for her upcoming open studio so the fact that I finished anything at all this weekend is pretty amazing. I tried to cast on for a new lace project yesterday but I'm not happy with it. I'm using the traveling vine pattern from Norbury's Traditional Knitting Patterns (Dover reprint, 1973) but I think my needles are too big...size 2s for laceweight yarn. If I wanted the pattern to be very open it would be fine, but this pattern calls for a closer knit....sigh. I've been struggling with my next lace project for about a month now. Everything I cast on for doesn't feel right. I have Muir in my queue but I'm not sure I'll be interested enough in this to keep it going. Reaaaaallllly repetitive knitting. Beautiful, but maybe not for me...there's also Susan' Lawrence's Branching Out...sensing a theme here? But all my laceweight yarn is burgundy, not so much for the leafy bits. I'm still pondering, thoughts anyone?