Swatching Saturdays: Alpaca Cloud

Today and for the past few days, I've been working on the swatch for my Featherweight Cardigan.  I'm knitting a 36 stitch wide swatch, planning a 4"x4" swatch.  I first tried on the recommended needle, then a strip of garter, then another block on the next size up or down, depending on the unblocked gauge of the first block, whether it was too large or too small.  This is the first 3" of the gauge swatch.

The first block is almost 4" tall, and more than 5" wide.  The first block isn't quite 4" because I got quite bored of knitting with the size 6 needle once I realized it wasn't going to work well for my gauge. My gauge, straight-off-the-needles, is 30 stitches per 5", which is mathematically the same as the gauge recommended, 24 stitches per 4", but the height isn't quite measureable because my kids knocked the stitches off the needles, and I didn't do a perfect job picking them back up.  I have really no way of knowing whether I've slipped some stitches or whether they're just incredibly tight, until I block it, because I can't really follow the individual stitches.

I was told that alpaca tends to grow, so the second swatch is a needle size down.  I really think my stitches are more even, but it might just be that I'm getting more confident with this yarn and needle combination.    The yarn is slick enough that it was initially hard for me to hold the needles and yarn without stitches falling out.