How to work with circular needle

How-to Questions
1

I am working on a tote and have completed the bottom of the bag which called to “co 40 sts and work in garter stitch for 5inches with a circular needle”. Here’s where I’m stuck.

For the first round, it says to knit 40 sts; pick up and k 20 sts across the short edge of the base; pick up and k 40sts along other long side; pick up and k 20 sts across rem edge. What does “pick up” mean? I can’t figure out what to do next.

Can anyone help?

thanks,

Melissa

2

This is how you pick up stitches.

Just a bit of a warning, here. It’s hard to pick up the stitches around the bag bottom–lots of people here can attest to that–but once they’re picked up and you are knitting around, it gets easy. So hang in there and if you have troubles, there are people here who have figured out ways to make it easier.