At lvl 40, with my leatherworking at 255, can I begin the leatherworking quest? If not, could you please suggest some patterns for purchase, as all I can make are grey, green, or yellow.
From 250 on it gets tough. All the recipes are purchased from the Auction House, and a few from vendors. You can do the wild leather quests, and also quests to choose your specialization, but you will have a hard time farming the materials yourself. When I did it, I bought everything on the AH.
All the 250+ recipes use quite a bit of leather too. So skillups come at quite a cost.
All the advice i have for you is: 1)Be sure to pay attention and skin ALL of your kills that are skinnable. It dosnt matter if its good leather or not, pick it up. Someone will need it if not you. 2) If all else fails, follow a grinding player and skin all of his kills when you have nothing better to do.