Joni;
I'm using 6 & 6 for a total of 12 in the butt section. Yes a furled leader swap would be great. It's been about 3 years since the last one and I'm sure we've found lots of materials and tricks since then.
I make the start and end loops approx 1/2 the distance between pegs 1 & 2 for a 12/10/8/6 taper.