Basic Tuning: HELP!

OK so here is what happened tonight.
So, with the idle where it has been (about 750) I loosened up the dist.
Started advancing the timing, the idle rose to about 1000 RPM and I back the idle screw down til I was back at 750.
Did this back and forth until I got it to where I couldnt get the RPMs to rise anymore by advancing.
At this point it was idling pretty rough as if it had a miss.
I then snapped the throttle real quick and there was a decent lull before the RPM's picked up. At this point I wasnt too happy, but figure there were several other things to be put in place still, so I left it at that.
I then hooked up a Vacuum gauge and proceeded to adjust the 2 screws on the carb from a lightly "seated" position (all the way screwed in) and backed them out 2-1/2 turns.
I fired it up and it started hard as if the timing was to far advanced and it was firing ahead and fighting the starter when cranking.
It fired up and ran pretty rough. At this point I had 20" lbs of Vac.
I adjusted the screws very carefully in 1/4 turn increments and to my surprise it was doing nothing. I had to back them out to about 3-1/2 turns to even see any difference in the idle.
At this point Im guessing the screws were out about 3-1/2 turns on both, and the idle came up. It was still running very rough and the idle was erratic.
I snapped the throttle a few times and it was horrible! A big lull in throttle response, and very rough running.
This is where this session and method stopped. Not because I dont believe it works, but more that I must have not done something correctly.
Ill stop hear and leave this as one post.
Ill begin another with what I did next.
Please fill me in, on what I did wrong here. Thanks guys