I'm preparing to knit the Butterscotch Sweater by NashKnits, pictured in the second photo. It asks for 22 stitches in 10cm and the recommended needles are 4.5mm for the quilted lattice and 5mm for corrugated rib. I'm using the same yarn as the author (Drops Air). 

I've never done neither of these before, but I made multiple swatches to get some practice. For the lattice pattern, I managed to get 21.5 sitches on 3mm needles, and I'm just going to go with that, because I can't get any lower without buying new needles. With corrugated rib, I only got a matching gauge on 6mm needles. This is my first time knitting while holding yarn in both hands, and at first I struggled a lot with knitting English style, but I can now keep somewhat acceptable tension, although it's still slow and I have to make a conscious effort not to make the stitches too tight. I'm still surprised that the difference is so large - I read through community project notes and some people had to size down for the quilted lattice, although not as drastically as me, and no one had to go as high with the ribbing. 

I guess it's not a big deal, I'm only a little concerned about having to size down mid-project, because those first rows will probably be awkward. I'm just wondering if I'm doing this right. Do these swatches look okay to you? The ribbing is obviously still quite uneven and the row gauge on the lattice is much lower than the recommended 34 stitches, but other than that, do they seem correct?

Pattern: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/butterscotch-sweater-adult

Gauge discrepancy between different stitches