Well, it works until I get about 1/2 away down the pen and then I can't get the netting to stretch far enough...I started with about 6ft. extra over the front of the pen and work down length wise and when I got about 12 ft. the netting got really tight and I couldn't stretch it any further with keeping it tight along the board....should I leave it loose when I staple it onto the boards because when I was nailing it to the boards I was keeping it tight...this might not make that much sense, but bear with a first time netting guy 
This is one reason I mentioned "temporary" fasteners.
You are probably stretching it too far in the lengthwise direction. Another reason for working a shorter distance on each side. Now you only have to undo part of it. If you had gone the full length, then gotten it too tight, you would have had to undo the full length.
As you go along, stretching it, look up through the netting. Everything should be square. Square in the constrution sense. The openings themselves will be hexagons. Equi-lateral, and equi-angular, or true hexagons, not oblong. If they are oblong lengthwise with the pen, it is too tight. If they are oblong across the pen, it is too loose. This should be apparent, once you look at it with this in mind.
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