obsessive compulsive knitting

you ever have a really good book you can't stop reading no matter how hard you try? and you make excuses and strange justifications for reading just one more paragraph. or chapter. or the whole book. i have read 1500-page novels in a weekend this way many times in my life. yesterday was the first time i have had some yarn do that to me. as you know, yesterday, i got some yarn in the mail. and last night, i had a big list of stuff to do around the house, but i kept stopping to fondle the yarn for a minute. just a minute... and then, when i sat down on the couch to eat dinner, and well, this happened. hmmmmm. a perfectly usable wound up ball of yarn. after that, it went something like this: i think to myself, i bet i have enough yardage to make this out of it, so i check, of course. and yes--i do! but this yarn is a little bit coarse for a baby hat. wonder if i have anything to soften it up a bit that won't drastically change the gauge? YES! the creamy kidsilk haze i bought for the purl scarf and then abandoned (it was too light for the dark purple manos). PERFECT! i'll just try it and see how it looks together. just a swatch... uh oh! the needles i need are in the sleeve of ella's hoodie--no matter--i can just steal them and put the sleeve on a stitch holder for now. (new project du jour!) so i figure, if i'm going to swatch anyway, i may as well just cast on for the hat. you know, just to see what the lace pattern looks like... you people know how this goes. suddenly, it's after midnight, and i have THIS:

lucky for me, it's a knitting lunch day. guess what i will be doing?