I live in Los Angeles, but went to a programming conference in Boulder, CO, in early June, 2018. While there, I snuck away a few times to JOANN, and 2 local yarn shops—Gypsy Wools, and MewMew’s (now Maverick FiberArts). At Gypsy Wools, I asked about locally made or dyed yarn, and all they had were a few skeins of this yarn in this colorway, dyed by a local indie dyer. The colorway was “I’ll Get You My Pretty,” and “The Wizard of Oz” is one of my mom’s all-time favorite films, so even though it was a bit pricey for my budget, I picked it up.

As a high-contrast yarn, with undyed white areas, and nearly-black blue areas, and repeats the length of a standard hank, I knew it was going to be a bit busy as a pair of socks, so I sought out a simple, free pattern. It was also my first pair of socks ever, so I didn’t want to jump right into lace and cables and colorwork, or even cuff/heel/toe colors in a contrasting color. I just wanted to knit a whole sock, and something easy. I found this pattern, because it claimed to be easy, and it was toe-up, which I thought would be easier, for some reason.

This pattern uses the Fleegle Heel, which I’ve learned through Roxanne Richardson is the toe-up version of the cuff-down Strong Heel. It was easy as could be, and I noticed at least one person who knit this pattern proclaiming they’d never do heel flaps again, because this was so much simpler. I had had this plan months earlier to order socks from easiest through hardest, e.g. start off with an entirely afterthought heel, where I just knit a tube, and then cut it and knit in a heel, and knit the same thing for the toe, and progress linearly through complication from there.

Roxanne actually replied to me in a Ravelry thread about ordering socks in this manner, saying that it didn’t really make sense, and to just start anywhere with a simple pattern. I eventually took her advice. I wouldn’t have started with a fleegle under my original directive, but it was a good first heel, because there’s no flap, and nothing to pick up. You just work short rows and end up with a heel. I’d actually thought prior to doing this heel that surely there was a way with just increases, decreases, and short rows, to make a heel, and wondered why I hadn’t seen it. I think the fleegle heel is exactly that.

I finished these almost a month before Christmas, and brought them home with me, wrapped them up, and mom got to open them Christmas morning at her cabin in Tennessee. They fit her perfectly! She wore them to Dollywood with neon pink shoes, and they looked great.