The Thing About Toe-Up Socks

Meet Gertrude.
(If Gerturde looks a little big, it's because she is a gift sock and the intended has bigger feet than me. She is made with Schaefer Yarns "Heather" in the Gertrude Erdele colorway.) Gertrude is an excellent example of the best thing about knitting socks toe-up.
Actually, there are lots of good things to recommend knitting your socks from the toe up: you can try them on as you go, no separate heel-flap so no picking up stitches (ok so I'm a wuss when it comes to picking up stitches), no seam at the toe, etc. All those reasons are more or less matters of opinion and preference, though, and there is nothing knitty that knitters won't dispute.
The one reason no one can argue with is that if you knit your socks from the toe up you can work on both socks at the same time and use up all you yarn. Not that I have anything against leftover yarn. It's just that you can only make so many sachets and nose warmers and mismatched striped whatsits and egg-cozies and tiny mitten Christmas ornaments and baby bootees before you start to wonder if maybe there's another way.
This is my Basic Toe-Up Template. It's the one I teach in my class, and it can very easily be adapted to any stitch pattern. The heel even looks and fits like a top down heel flap! I'll post more detailed pictures when I get to the heel of Gertrude 2.
First, measure the circumference and length of your foot and do a gauge swatch. Multiply stitches per inch by the circumference of you foot. This is the approximate number of total stitches (NTS) your sock will need.
I like to use a Figure-8 cast on. It takes a little practice but is completely worth it. An excellent tutorial can be found here.
Increase until you have the NTS. You should have half the NTS on your 1st needle, and the other half divided on the 2nd and 3rd needles. Your 1st needle is your instep, and you can now start any stitch pattern across those stitches. The stitches on the other two needles are your heel stitches. Knit up to about 3" from your heel.
Start increasing 1 stitch on each side of your heel stitches (once after the 1st stitch on 2nd needle and once before the last stitch on your 3rd needle) every other row, until the number of stitches across your 2nd and 3rd needle has doubled.
Example: You had 13 stitches on your 2nd needle and 13 stitches on your 3rd needle. This equals 26. When you have 26 stitches on your 2nd needle and 26 stitches on your 3rd needle, you're there. Knit across instep stitches.
Now, the short rows! These are worked on the heel stitches only. First, subtract 4 from 3/4 the number of heel stitches. Knit this number of stitches, wrap and turn (w&t).
Example: You started with 13 stitches on your 2nd needle and 13 stitches on your 3rd needle. You doubled this number. 13 x 4 = 52. 13 x 3 = 39. 39 - 4 = 35. K35, w&t.
Next, subtract 2 from 1/2 the number of heel stitches. Purl this number, w&t.
Example: 13 x 2 = 26. 26 - 2 = 24. Purl 24, w&t.
Continue short rows, working one less stitch each time.
Example : K35, w&t. P24, w&t. K23, w&t. P22, w&t. K21, w&t. P20, w&t.
When 9 stitches remain unwrapped (your last row should be a K9, w&t), purl 9, pick up the wrap and P2tog with the stitch it wrapped. Do the same for all following wrapped stitches on this side. On the last wrap, pick up the wrap and P3tog (the wrap, the stitch it wrapped, and the next stitch in line). Turn work.
Slip 1 stitch, knit across to the first wrapped stitch, pick up the wrap, and ssk with the stitch it wrapped. Do the same for all the wrapped stitches on this side. On the last wrap, pick up the wrap and sssk (the wrap, the stitch it wrapped, and the next stitch in line).
To shape the gusset, turn work (WS), sl 1, purl to one stitch before the gap, p2tog. Turn work (RS), *sl 1, K1* repeat to one stitch before the gap, ssk. Keep doing this until you've decreased back to the number of heel stitches you started with. You should end on a RS row. Rejoin instep stitches. When you get to the gap on the other side, pick up a couple of stitches from the base and side of the gap and knit them together with the next stitch through the back.
Keep knitting. Put the sock on holders when you get a fair bit up the leg, and start the second sock. Work it up to the same height, and then switch back and forth between the socks until just enough yarn is left to do a sewn bind off for each sock. If you are using one skein, do one sock from the outside and one from the inside.