Totally agree about preferring wood over metal. I usually use KP Harmonies. I also magic loop
everything, even small stuff. I made a few amigurumi bunnies last Easter, and even when the rounds got down to 8 sts I still magic looped it. Basically for small stuff in the round you have to choose your poison -- deal with an unwieldy cable or with many extra needle points?
I've done both and it's unwieldy cables for me.
I used to have the twisted-stitch issue too -- I was wrapping my purls backwards (didn't know it at the time though) and then not knitting them through the back loop to untwist them. It felt wrong and weird and I didn't like the fabric I was getting, but I had no clue what was wrong or how to fix it. The day I found out what combination knitting was, I said "a-HA!" and cured myself of my backwards purls. I know some people do combination knitting on purpose but for me it doesn't work.
Cranky, maybe I've been living in a cave or something but I've never heard of a sock loom. Is it for knitting or for weaving?