By the way, with the new sliders, you can no longer use directional keys to modify size in the Calligraphy tool. It's a pity, because they could be used for more precise value adjustments (it's hard to get a change of exactly 1 with the sliders).
Also, I was hoping for keyboard shortcuts to be available to the pencil tool as well, so...
Refer to my proposal for the pencil interface: http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Vector-brushes
I don't have problems with the integer being replaced by a slider, but I'd still like to be able to control it somewhat with keyboard shortcuts.
Though I suppose the issue Could be easily side-stepped by entering a value 5 to 10 times smaller in the second field of my proposal, so that you drag the slider more freely...