Also azure about your leathercraft example...... you can level up crafts w/o spending a dime via local leve quests npc give you all the ,mats you need, and enough items for at least 2-3 errors which you can still craft after the set amount was reached. I leveled up my goldsmithing to rank 10 so far w/o spending a dime. And that is a combo of levequests and usong what I gather from mining. I have yet bought any mats.