Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I have been making this bread for a while and it is a favorite of my husbands.  Two sandwiches a day make two loaves of bread go quick.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread:

2 cups warm water (110 F. degrees)
1/4 cup of honey
1 1/2 Tablespoons of yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons of vital wheat gluten
4 cups wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup or more of water if needed

Preheat oven to 350 F. degrees.
Dissolve honey in water and add yeast.  Let it foam then mix in salt and butter.  Add gluten, alternate white and wheat flour when you add.  Knead until smooth.  Add water if needed.  I keep this dough tacky, not sticky.  Place in a well oiled bowl, turn over and cover with oiled plastic wrap.  Let rise an hour.  Punch down, shape into 2 loaves and place in oiled pans and covered again with oiled wrap for half an hour.  Bake 25-30 minutes.  I brush with butter when it comes out. 

Happy 239th Birthday Navy!

Actually it was yesterday, but since it was a holiday it is celebrated on most bases today.

Navy Birthday Information - 13 October 1775

Knitting Progress and Daily Life

We survived homecoming, the house was rolled twice.  We missed the deadline to register for  MS State open house for my high school junior but will book a private tour later on.  Other than that we are enjoying the cool weather and Cruising The Coast.  
I have been a knitting fool.  I started out with this basic beanie hat:

I have made more than one, some have already walked out the door.  This is the Nice and Knit Beanie.  This pattern is also available for free on the Ravelry website as well.  This will probably be my go to beanie pattern, simple enough for a beginner like me.  

My son wanted ear flaps on his so I found this pattern in a "learn to knit" box I have with various pattern cards:

I shorted the length of the seed stitch to make it a little more .... manly???   He likes it.

I cast on another sock.  I bought this book and extra long circular needle when I did not know how to knit and had no business buying it at the time but I dove in to Socks From The Toe Up by Wendy Knits:

I desperately needed help trying to cast on with a long circular needle so thankfully I found a YouTube video from someone who has the book and a long circular :  Judy's Magic Cast On.  

Not too bad so far!  

Knitting on tiny needles with thin yarn takes time.  I love to see the pattern emerge from self striping yarns.  I picked a basic pattern but may try something a little more difficult with the plain sock yarn I have.   I want to say this yarn is from Big City yarns but I lost the wrapper.  

Went food shopping and meat is on the rise again.   I went shopping two weeks ago and my spaghetti sauce was $.79 and now is $1.09.  This is just one example.  I am going to have to make sure I go once a month in the middle of the month from now on.