You should make it, Valkyrie. This will be likely therapeutic and you will have a stronger connection to it and probably feel accomplished and proud when it is done.
As Silverfire suggested, I would get mala beads or buy a mala to start with. Rosewood is an aromatic wood that smells really nice. The smell will fade with time but even a couple years after getting mine, I can put my nose to it and smell the rosewood fragrance.
I have a pendant with runes on it attached to my beads, and I removed some of the rosewood beads and placed tiger's eye beads around the necklace in a pattern. You could do the same with stones you like - it's easy to get beads made of a crystal or stone you like.
Most of the inexpensive malas you can buy online will come strung on a stretchy string that can stretch out over time if you wrap the beads around your hands or wear them like a bracelet. I want to eventually string mine on some organic material instead that wont stretch. The regular threads that a lot of crystal necklaces are strung on will break easily if you wear them. The stretchy (polyester?) string the malas come on will probably never break from wearing it though.
Strangely enough I remember trying pretty hard to find a mala to buy, long ago.. in person, at stores, that is. Online they are everywhere..
If you are going to go into a craft store in person, you sadly may find that the materials they have available (beads in particular) may not satisfy you. But online, ebay, etsy, everywhere practically you can get really nice ones that aren't cheap materials.
