Finished! And much better. Heel flap high enough to provide cushioning even with my Docs, seed stitch cuff stays up quite well (probably thanks to all the ribbing in the leg, but whatever), and the leg pattern is easy enough to fall into while watching television, etc. Victory is mine.

I’d love to blame the weird winter light for the color variations in these photos, but it was actually the yarn--the skein was markedly more pink at one end, and more purple at the other, so the socks are more like sisters than twins.

I might write up the pattern for these, at some point, though I don’t know how other people are going to feel about my heel construction choices.