The reason I never made socks is because I hated how the heel flap looked and was too intimidated by all of the others. Bit the bullet and decided to try with FLK and never gone back. I think that the instructions are a little overexplained but, overall, it's a very easy and rhymic pattern.
I've started experimenting with the ratio of side heel:centre heel:side heel and have found that I prefer the heel to be ⅔ of the total circumference, so you might want to try a few alterations once you're familiar with it.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/twilight-21
Something like this but make it longer, do a knot hood and find a simple colourwork pattern?
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/paper-houses
Or this, with a hood and in black and white?
It depends how comfortable you are modifying patterns, I guess pp