ESO Crafting - Blacksmithing from gathering to crafting

This video is focused on Blacksmithing but gives a good overview of gathering and crafting in general.

The Craft system in ESO it's one of the best in MMO history. I'm really considering spent much of my in game time crafting armor and weapons, it's so intuitive and fun.

Indeed. I know my PvP lack of prowess and figure I can do the most good by supporting others as best I can by concentrating most of my efforts on crafting. Though I figure crafters will be dime a dozen.

one thing I plan on doing is having all 8 of my characters have the hireling feature pretty early in the game so I can be getting stuff delivered to me all the time, 8 character slots ....

Do the hirelings give you materials appropriate to your crafting abilities?  Or is it just random materials from a list?

Appropriate for the skill-line you've selected them. BS, WW and CW all have their own versions of hirelings.