I Can't Wait to Try My New Loom!

I was inspired yesterday!!! After I felted another bag made on the Yellow Knifty Knitter Loom, I thought it was a little small. I have heard that the larger the gauge of knitting, the more it shrinks. So, I wanted a loom in a smaller gauge to try out some more felting. I knew I just couldn't wait if I ordered one online... so a-hunting for supplies I went.
First stop was Michaels to see if they had any canvas stretcher frame used by painters. I couldn't believe it - They only have prestretched canvas and frames. Now, I've never painted on canvas, but I have done some things with those frames--- and they used to sell the pieces seperately... not now. OK... so I continued searching... I found in the embroidery section some framing pieces that come in sizes from 9" to 22" (two in a package)- they are about 3/4" square. So, I bought the 22" and the 9"sizes. (Total cost after 40% off coupon- under $4.50). Then, to find some pegs... well... Michael's was a bust for that. The wooden pegs were too big, and they had no cotter pins (wasn't really expecting them) If I was going to put all this work into a loom, I didn't want to just use nails. Anyway... off to the local Ace Hardware - and I searched and searched. They had cotter pins.. but only about 40 of them- I needed 100 of them (I tought). So, I looked through all the bins and boxes to see what I could find. I found these straight wall anchors ($.03 each)they have grooves in them that I thought would be perfect for the loom pick to glide along... and some nails... So, my total cost there... Under $5.
I put the frame together and glued it... then, with a push pin I poked the holes 1/2" on center. I put the wall anchors through the nails (with some glue on them) and mounted them on the board... but I realized that the grooves on the wall anchors stuck out a little bit and I feared the edges would catch the yarn... so I needed another solution.
After some thought, I figured out a solution... a washer... but I had none- and it was 10 o'clock at night... and my glue was already drying! So, I punched holes into an old margarine lid with a regular 1/4" hole punch- pushed the nails through the middle and it covers the edge! Hopefully, this will prevent the pointed edges of the grooves from catching the yarn! Well... of course I had to take all 100 nails out and add the makeshift washers to the pegs. Long before this, I realized I had 116 holes--- so I was short 16 pegs.
This morning, I went back to Ace and got what I needed to make the rest of the pegs. When I came back from work, I sanded the wood down - rounding the edges and smoothing the joins and added the rest of pegs. Now, it's drying... and I'm anxious... I can't wait to try out my new loom... I've got some Lopi wool that is dying to be made into a handbag!!!
Wish me luck that it works well and holds up!