The Koigu socks are finished--

but I haven't had a chance to take a picture of them. I didn't quite make my end-of-April deadline, but May 1st isn't bad. I think I'll call them my April-May socks.

I've started working on a Fiber Trends shawl in KnitPicks' new Shimmer (80% alpaca and 20% silk), in beautiful Grape Hyacinth, but yesterday I ripped it out at least six times. I keep getting lost or dropping a stitch, and then I can't figure out where I am. I plan on starting again sometime later this week, and hopefully it will be better. I love the yarn--it would be a shame not to be able to make something really beautiful with it.

I have a subscription to Netflix. About once a week I get three movies of my choice. I usually watch them over the weekend while I'm knitting. Here's this week's reviews, including the Netflix descriptions (I feel like Roger Ebert!):

1) Breathless (À bout de souffle) (1960)--In Jean-Luc Godard's groundbreaking work that ushered in the French New Wave movement, young thug Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) steals a car and shoots a policeman pursuing him. He turns to his American girlfriend and aspiring journalist Patricia (Jean Seberg) for help, and the two lovers begin a life evading capture as they steal cars to raise money for an escape to Italy. As the law closes in, their bold behavior and desperation grows.

Usually I like most French films, but I just could not get involved in this movie. Maybe it was because it jumped around a lot, I don't know. It also could be because the characters weren't very likeable. Anyway, I can now say I've seen a classic, but I don't recommend it. Maggie gave it a big yawn.

2) The Dish (2000)--July 1969. Neil Armstrong is about to walk on the moon, and everyone's eyes are riveted to their TV screens. In Parkes, Australia, a radio dish antenna is slated to receive Apollo 11's video feed and send that historic sight out to the world…that is, if the Australian staff (including pipe-smoking, absent-minded scientist Sam Neill) and their NASA supervisor (the tense, by-the-book Patrick Warburton) don't make any mistakes!

I really liked this movie. I love Sam Neill, and the scenes of Australia were so beautiful it made me want to catch the next flight out. This is a true story, and there are many secondary characters that are quite good. Much of the musical score is classic 60s music, which is an added plus. This one gets an enthusiastic two butt wags from Maggie.

3) The Magdalene Sisters (2002)--This unflinching drama charts several years in the young lives of four "fallen women" who were rejected by their families and abandoned to the mercy of the Catholic Church in 1960s Ireland. While women's liberation sweeps the globe, these women are stripped of their liberty and dignity and condemned to indefinite servitude in The Magdalene Laundries, so that they may atone for their "sins."

When this movie was finished, I didn't know whether to throw up or throw something heavy at the TV. The physical, sexual, and emotional abuse these young women endured at the hands of "religious" nuns and priests is overwhelming. It is approximated that over 30,000 girls were imprisoned in these asylums until they were closed in 1997--WTF!!! It is unbelievable to me to think that, in this day and age, the world still allows girls and women to be denigrated and abused in this fashion, and the Catholic Church takes a slap on the wrist and goes right on. The frightening thing is that there are many people in this country right now who probably think that places like these would be ideal to punish "sinners." I recommend this movie highly, but don't expect to enjoy it. It's a real eyeopener. (Maggie didn't watch this one--not appropriate for young eyes.)

There will be more fiber content coming soon--I promise!