Madison Day

Blogger isn't allowing me to upload images today, so the above images are sent over via Flickr and are meant to accompany this post.

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday--perfect for getting together with Jane to trek over to Madison for lunch and some shopping. Madison is always a treat for me and Jane works there, so she knows of many interesting nooks and crannies that I've never seen. Jane is not a knitter or a sewer, but bless her heart, she's always on the lookout for yarn shops and quilt-related places for me. (If it hadn't been for her, we never would have found the wonderful Amish farm shop near Chautauqua Lake, on our Pennsylvania/New York State trip last summer.)

Madison has some unique and particularly charming spots for crafty types. Our first stop was Lakeside Fibers on Lakeside Street. Wonderful place! The shop seems to go on forever, stocked with lovely and inspirational yarns. A lower level was full of cone yarns and beautiful looms. (Weaving is near the top of my list for my next lifetime...)

A small class was in session in the front area of the shop, but most wonderful was the back area of the shop, open and sunny, with huge windows looking out onto Lake Monona. This back area houses a coffee shop and it was full of Saturday folks, enjoying coffee, chatting, and knitting.

Lucky Madison folk. Lakeside Fibers would make another most excellent hangout.

I'd never heard of Booked for Murder, a bookstore on University Avenue which stocks only mysteries. We stopped there so Jane could pick up a copy of the book she has to have speed-read by Thursday for her book club.

We did lunch at P.F. Chang's in Middleton and finished out the day with a little retail therapy in that area, mainly at Chico's.