These socks are a product of the KnitFreedom Faux Heel Flap pattern only in the sense that I followed that pattern as a guideline, but changed literally everything with regard to the details (the toe, the total stitch count for the foot, heel turn, heel flap and leg, the ribbing…), so while I didn’t follow it line for line, it provides the basic formula for what I did.

Using the MC I cast on 12 stitches using Judy’s Magic Cast-On, leaving a long tail, and worked one round. I worked the next round with the working yarn and the cast-on tail held double, bringing the stitch count up to 24. I then continued the toe increases as given in the pattern until I reached a total of 70 stitches (35 stitches per side of the Magic Loop), with the last increase round including two extra increases - one in the center of the heel needle and one in the center of the instep needle. I worked 2 rounds even before beginning the mosaic stitch pattern.

The stitch pattern that I used was Simulated Basketweave from Charted Knitting Designs, A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker. The pattern is a multiple of 10 stitches plus 5 (or just 10 stitches when working continuously in the round). I began the CC with row 15 of the mosaic pattern to get the color placement the way I wanted it and worked the top of the foot in the mosaic pattern and the bottom of the foot in stockinette. I began the gusset increases on row 5 of the 4th repeat of the mosaic pattern to ensure that the heel turn would fall between two rows of the MC. (Rows 1, 5, 9 and 13 would all have worked, but the foot measurement was closest to being right for beginning the gusset increases at a row 5.) The heel turn and heel flap are basically the same as in the pattern, just modified slightly to work with my stitch count (a total of 57 stitches on the heel needle).

After completing the heel and before continuing the mosaic stitch pattern all the way around the leg I moved the first instep stitch and the last 4 instep stitches (the +5 from the pattern repeat) to the heel needle so that both needles began with the first stitch of the mosaic pattern and the continuity of the stitch pattern was maintained on the front of the sock(s). From that point on I worked the mosaic stitch pattern all the way around the leg with 30 stiches on the instep needle and 40 stitches on the heel needle. After completing the 12th full mosaic pattern repeat I worked 2 additional rounds of stockinette in the MC followed by 8 rounds of 3x2 ribbing.

I normally like to work toe-up socks 2-at-a-time by Magic Loop, but know from previous experience that once I add the contrast color to the mix, I spend more time untangling myself from all the working yarns than actually knitting, so I knit these socks one at a time. I used eye-of-partridge for the heel stitch and I bound off the ribbing using Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off.