If at first you don't succeed, you're running about average.
I can't remember how many times I compiled my kernel before I got it to work. It seems like it was in the teens, but was probably 5 or 6 times.
It's much easier in Gentoo than trying to get Redhat or Mandrake with all those other screwy files they need besides the bzImage or whatever.
It's not hard after you learn where your hardware support is located and figure out whether to use a module or not.
Remember to load the modules you will need if you chose to make modules for anything.