Potential.

I recently received a truly lovely and unexpected gift. It got me thinking about skeins of yet-to-be-used yarn.

There it is, all bound up, the colours beautifully arranged - twisted, wound, tucked. When I look at a skein of yarn, I get excited - what could I do with it? A new skein means researching patterns on Ravelry, thinking if I could make something up myself, wondering if it should be gloves, a cardigan, a brooch. A skein has so much potential.

That reminds me of a quote that I love, but that's a little bit scary too:

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential - for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints; possibility never.

-Soren Kierkegaard

It's true, I often enjoy the looking forward, or the getting excited about something, more than the end result. Do you enjoy wearing your knitted garments as much as you enjoy knitting them?

I looked up the word potential in the Oxford English Dictionary:

Potential

A. adj.

1. Possible as opposed to actual; having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future; latent; prospective.

B. n.

2. Something which is possible, as opposed to actual; capacity for growth, achievement, future development or use; resources able to be used or developed.

and then potent:

Potent

A. adj.¹

^{1. a. Of a person or thing: powerful; having great authority or influence; mighty. Now chiefly in literary usage.}

^{2. Of a drug, alcoholic drink, etc.: causing physical effects; causing rapid intoxication; strong.}

Interesting. I know that gorgeous skeins of yet-to-be-used yarn do tend to have intoxicating effects on knitters - anyone who's been to a fiber show has witnessed that. As for "of a drug, alcoholic drink, etc" - there's a reason why knitter's call their collection of yarn their "stash" after all.

Right now I now have a lot of "potential". And so far Kierkegaard's right - possibility doesn't disappoint.