at cloth lvl 53...

[Brayden]

Fellow crafters

So I have been following the excellent guide and advice of pdac from the above thread. Now I am at lvl 53 and I should be making silk headbands. Well it takes 3 silk cloth for one of these babies and a stack of that costs 100k or so on my server. Ive found its much more financially sound for me to just make my own cloth, but everytime i get 12 I cant resist the urge to sell and make an easy 100k. Anyway, is there another alternative that people make for a while that isnt so pricy? Cause at this rate I dunno if I will ever have the nerve to push from 53+ since Im supposed to make these headbands for quite some time.

EDIT: blab blah I was actually talking about green ribbons blah blah. Thanks for reminding me.

[METDeath]

Green ribbons, one silk cloth + wind crystal, sell to npc for 2k ish. And farm your own silk...

[lionx]

I been 55 cloth for the longest time..is skillup really that infrequent? I synth one-three at a time and dont synth for a while..could that be something that is stopping skill ups? Its just so annoying i am not even getting ONE skill up after like a month..

[METDeath]

Yeah... pretty much just go farm a lot of silk... a friend of mine farmed up a lot of silk, powered his way through 60...

[Pebbles]

You can do 53-54 quite cheaply using scarlet linen (earth + 2 linen thread + 1 bloodthread).
linen thread is cheaply made from flax flower, and bloodthread is only 2k on my server (altho usually in short supply).
If you like you can save the scarlet linen to make Garish Tunic; the cloth doesn't sell at all it seems, but it's still cheaper than the silk road.

[WishMaster3K]

now i'm re-energized to get to 54. I find that silk is painful, and I havent felt like going anywhere near winy for about 3 months now.

Stuck at 53 also ^^;;

[kamalii]

Scarlet linen is a good idea. I also saved my green ribbons (well, as many as I could) to try to desynth them. However, in the end, I think I lost just about as much money desynthing these than I would have selling to NPC. HOWEVER, I did get some skill ups (I didn't start desynthing until 60).


I actually leveled for a bit on gold thread. This was a while ago, and depends on the server, but gold thread is actually something you can make for a profit. And, since I was lvling goldsmithing for sub anyway...I like dual-skill ups.

[Pai Pai Master]

Keep at it! The silk stage is tough, but you're rewarded by the ease of Black Chocobo fletchings :)

And then you're smacked hard by Spider webs...but it's all good :)

[TheMidg]

Been stuck at 52 myself forever now. Just kind've burned out at looking at ridiculous silk prices and the thought of farming...I'll have to get back into the game eventually and look at some recipes. Anyone have any new useful links for crafting? :o

[Kyreth]

Silk drives a lot of people into the crazy range. Personally, I find a handy way of getting around it.

Every new job I level up, I level up in Windurst. Crawlers die. Lots and lots of lovely dead crawlers piled to the roof.

Honestly, I think cross-crafting is the best way to "bridge" through the silk road- gold thread to 58 and you can risk Hyo at that point, burning a single silk thread per shot (plus three cotton and an iron ingot) on the road to 65. Why not level up two skills at once if you need to? 65 puts you just at the edge of sanity for Black Chocobo fletchings. I was lucky and did the 50's pre-silk-nightmare. I seriously wish now I'd worked up more goldsmith levels, and I may do it just to have the skill later for the final push towards the 90's.

Am I nuts in considering Pinwheels for 72-77, considering the ever spiraling cost of spider webs?

[Eternalyx]

I'm also stuck here, 51 actualy, and yes the silk prices drive you nuts. I've just been farming, sometimes making my boyfriend come keep me company =3 and buying singles when they get to the 3k-3.5k range. This is going to suck ><

[Last_Viper]

Hell yeah, silk is expensive. but you really want to spare the gil for gold thread?? i was the same way.. with no loss you will break even or+ but with any loss in gold ingot.. that hurts.. and you will fail while skill up.... hyo is a way to go from about 57 till 62... i will go the silk road green ribbon->hyo->62
i guess i will spend 1.4m for 7 levels and then again for the enxt step, 1m+
times making profit on skilling up are gone :)

[kamalii]

There are a couple alternatives here. Keep in mind that if silk prices get too high, you can always desynth black capes (around 10k each) and yield 2 silk threads. I'm not sure if that is a viable option, since I don't know the prices on your server. Its getting close on mine.


I only offerred gold thread if you are duel skilling. Gold in the 40s is very very expensive to level in and of itself, and is quite a loss most of the time. And as long as you skill within 5 levels on the right moon, you rarely lose. In addition, I made about 10k/synth on this, since gold thread was not something people like to make. Besides, my mule is a high level goldsmither, so I am kind of imune to losing ingots now (except the orich ones - those still hurt).

You can avoid silk thread, depending on wool prices with Field Hose (earth+linen cloth+wool thread+2x wool cloth). The price on that may be cheaper since silk is rising to much.

[Last_Viper]

while having another char where you can make you own gold ingot, its maybe not as bad as i meantioned.

dual skilling on both skills with >5level under cap brings you garanted synth with skill up, thats the good side of life ^^
i checked it for me, but with successful synth i`ll loos gil because of our economie... not to say what about a fail in the ingots.

[Kyreth]

There are a couple alternatives here. Keep in mind that if silk prices get too high, you can always desynth black capes (around 10k each) and yield 2 silk threads. I'm not sure if that is a viable option, since I don't know the prices on your server. Its getting close on mine.


I only offerred gold thread if you are duel skilling. Gold in the 40s is very very expensive to level in and of itself, and is quite a loss most of the time. And as long as you skill within 5 levels on the right moon, you rarely lose. In addition, I made about 10k/synth on this, since gold thread was not something people like to make. Besides, my mule is a high level goldsmither, so I am kind of imune to losing ingots now (except the orich ones - those still hurt).

You can avoid silk thread, depending on wool prices with Field Hose (earth+linen cloth+wool thread+2x wool cloth). The price on that may be cheaper since silk is rising to much.

Speaking of dual-skilling and gold thread- since the GS cap of Gold Thread is 41, we actually have options...with a little practice. (It's good to work on GS/Smithing anyway, as some of our high-end synths use em both).

Brass ingots to 9. Silver Thread will get you to 12 GS. Brass hairpins, 17 (save on supplies, desynth these and remake for more skillups). Silver ingots 20(ore at guild shop = 300 or so on best day, so approx 1600 cost per ingot-AH em or save em)/Sabiki Rigs 21(copper from ore ingots cheap, from Yagudo necklaces cheaper- cotton thread not tough). Silver Hairpins and Thief's Tools to 28. Hiraishin 31/Silver rings 32. Spark daggers, 38. Grats, you're now within the "sweet spot" for skillups with Gold Thread. You're also able to refine mithril, too. If you want to, you can also continue up to 41 with mithril ingots, 49 with silver bangles.

Most of the GS/Smithing work can be easily done in Bastok- just sit there and mine, mine, mine in Zerhun between low-cost days at the Goldsmith's guild for silver ore. You'll be able to end up with 20+ smithing skill and the aforementioned GS work while you're at it. Sell off the occasional bit of darksteel ore as you get them (I usually end up with 1-2 a day spent mining) and you'll be doing fine as far as keeping your cash flow up. Stacks of iron/brass ingots don't hurt the pocket either. You'll just develop a strange lust for fire crystals. :P

But even 20ish GS is nice. Silver thread sells fairly nicely on the AH, at least where I am.

Again, though- it's worth it to study and learn dual-skill recipes as you go. You -will- want those secondaries to level up along the way, and sometimes it's profitable making those multiskill items, since fewer people do them. I was a happy camper making bronze beds, for example. Silver thread treated me just fine. Making your own gold thread is handy at the top, too- and the GS skill is needed for a lot of Errant gear. Ditto Leatherworking- there's good reasons some of the lower-level new stuff (Noct gear/Trader's) has leatherworking secondaries. It's to give people reasons to up that skill for when that high-end stuff demands the skill to make. And Smithing for that matter.

When you hit that "wall" at the silk road level, consider taking some time to polish your secondary skills. If nothing else, it feels really nice leveling up with .2 and .3 gains again. :P

[Last_Viper]

i skipped the silk road
was not really cheap, but cheapern then with the silk. i didn`t farm anything, i desynth all i need and asked some friends helping me getting all the stuff.

i lost about 1m from 53 to 61 with selling all to npc

[Thark601]

I've been making green ribbons, but i get all I can out of them, after the synth i simply de-synth with a lighting crystal, get 0-3 silk thread back, of course at the cost of more crystals, and you won't be very succesful untill you get a few lvls higher.

Another option you can look at is Hunter's Cotton, but quite honestly there isn't a market for it yet on my server, it never sells.

[Last_Viper]

most hunter cotton makers selling it back to vendor ~200 gil each
with successfully desynth the ribbons, you can get nice amount of ingedriens back
for hunter cotton you need 3 cotton thread + carapace powder (maybe wrong spelling ^^)
total cost of 90-100k from AH (not making the cotton self)
green ribbons cost more in the first stage, but with desynth you maybe go the better road

[WishMaster3K]

I'm having my 93Cloth mentor desynth for me. And I craft on the Full moon. Windsday if possible. Best craft for skillups is, wait, here is the link.

http://www.boomspeed.com/ssj4_sunny/Crafting.jpg

[Last_Viper]

i wa susing this one
http://ffxi.lokyst.net/timer/crafttimer.html

i got 0,4 skill up (10 synth) yesterday with no full moon and only a normal day, i was 74 and cap was 78.

i will not say that its equal when to synth, but sometimes i got so much luck with not following the rules :)

[Meo]

Another option you can look at is Hunter's Cotton, but quite honestly there isn't a market for it yet on my server, it never sells.

Probably because there isn't any use what-so-ever for the Hunter's Cotton that I know of...

Sort of weird that they'd introduce these synthesis formulas to make ingredients that does absolutely nothing :x

[Last_Viper]

there are very much new synthesis recipe where stuff like hunter's cotton comes out
they all have something to do with upgrading your AF to AF+1

Hunter's Cotton are used for Hunter's Beret+1 and Hunter's Jerkin+1 for example

the market is small though

[Sharinu]

Alrighty I took my clothcraft from 53-60 last week on Hunter's Cotton. 53-55 was very tough, as the cap for Hunter's Cotton is 63 so there was a lot of breaks. Skill-ups were very infrequent, but when I did get one it was almost always +0.3 to my clothcraft. I'll admit I did a stack of silk cloths to green ribbons early on because I had a stack saved on one of my mules, and felt I would get better skillups, but from what I saw I did not. The good thing (or bad? depends how you look at it) about Hunter's Cotton is that when you have a break it really doesn't matter, since they only sell for 200 gil, it's pennies.

I funded the run by raising my Bonecraft from 0 to 21. My route was Bone Hairpins > 4, Bone Arrowheads > 9, Cornettes > 14, Carapace Powder > 21. I farmed bone chips in King Ranperre's Tomb, as well as bought some from the AH with extra money I made while farming in KRT. My Goldsmithing was already at 11 when I started this, which isn't hard to get to (I think it was profit all the way). I mined some Zinc Ores in Gusgen and Zeruhn mines. I picked up I think 2 Darksteel Ore and a Gold Ore in the process. I sold those and used the money to buy more Zinc Ores, turning all the Zinc Ores I had into Brass Ingots at the Bastok airship dock. I think I also desynthed brass rings at the jewelry shop in Bastok to get some more ingots when my GS skill was capped at 14. I sent all the cornettes I made to a mule I had in Windurst. Turned them in to Yoran-Oran and gathered enough fame for the Aspir Scroll quest. Farmed the test answers, sold the scroll. I bought all my beetle shells on the AH for 100-1000 gil, never any more. Ended up with about 9 stacks of powders from 14-21.

Then I started to level clothcraft. Now to get the Cotton Thread I desynthed Goblin Armor, Moblin Armor and Antican Robes, bought them on the AH for 1-3k. It took a lot of these to get the threads I needed. I started with approx. 875k to my name. I may have made money elsewhere that I didn't mention or remember. If I did, it was not more than 100k total. When all my stuff had sold, I had about 400k left. So basically the cost was somewhere around 500-600k.
EDIT: Forgot that I made 2 'Cornette +1' during my skill-up session. Each sold for 18k.

Notes: I also farmed all the crystals needed for the synthesis (this is not hard). I also had to buy more beetle shells and synth them into powder after I reached 21 in bonecraft (14-21 BC will not completely supply you for 53-60 CC).

Thought I'd share this because this was a very hard stretch for me and I hope this helped someone else that will have to go through it. Any questions are welcome.

Sharinu's necromancy skill raises 0.2 points.

[zagex]

Currently at 79 clothcraft, I hit 53 cloth a while ago and sat there stuck because I didn't want to dish out the money for plunging through green ribbons. I basically stopped cloth for a long time, since I'd only been playing a few months then. Anyhow, after a while, I started making Linen Doublets. They're pretty cheap to synth, about the same cost as green ribbons, but when those doublets were GP items, I'd put them on windy's AH. The previous price was a bit lower than my cost, so I jacked up the price by a small amount so I wouldn't lose money making it. Actually, I got lucky one time, and about 4 of the ranks had linen doublets as GP items. That day I just kept logging on and off my mule, and put another full set on the AH. I think I sold around 30 of them that day. Unfortunately it took months to sell all the linen doublets, but I've still been playing < 1 year, so my mule isn't exactly stuffed (I've only levelled mage jobs, because I really like those jobs. Recycling eq ftw!)

I didn't get that much skillup from the linen doublets, but it was at least 2.5 or 3 points, enough to make the first few levels of hunter's cotton a bit easier. That 10 level gap is pretty hefty.

Anyhow, moral of the story, if you have enough space on a mule, then there are other alternatives. Just because every guide out there says to make hunter's cotton or green ribbons doesn't mean you have to. Unfortunately, unless you have a lot of space, to store junk, then those 2 synths are essentially the best.

[TheMidg]

Currently at 79 clothcraft, I hit 53 cloth a while ago and sat there stuck because I didn't want to dish out the money for plunging through green ribbons. I basically stopped cloth for a long time, since I'd only been playing a few months then. Anyhow, after a while, I started making Linen Doublets. They're pretty cheap to synth, about the same cost as green ribbons, but when those doublets were GP items, I'd put them on windy's AH. The previous price was a bit lower than my cost, so I jacked up the price by a small amount so I wouldn't lose money making it. Actually, I got lucky one time, and about 4 of the ranks had linen doublets as GP items. That day I just kept logging on and off my mule, and put another full set on the AH. I think I sold around 30 of them that day. Unfortunately it took months to sell all the linen doublets, but I've still been playing < 1 year, so my mule isn't exactly stuffed (I've only levelled mage jobs, because I really like those jobs. Recycling eq ftw!)

I didn't get that much skillup from the linen doublets, but it was at least 2.5 or 3 points, enough to make the first few levels of hunter's cotton a bit easier. That 10 level gap is pretty hefty.

Anyhow, moral of the story, if you have enough space on a mule, then there are other alternatives. Just because every guide out there says to make hunter's cotton or green ribbons doesn't mean you have to. Unfortunately, unless you have a lot of space, to store junk, then those 2 synths are essentially the best.
You could make Linen Doublets for your own GP point too :D

[Sharinu]

Linen Doublets do sound like a good thing to close the gap, wish I would have thought of that. :thumbsup:
But I was sort of in a rush to get to 60 though, partially because I figured the less time I spent leveling CC the more time I could spend making money after I get to 60. But to each their own, of course.

And an addendum to my earlier post:
I forgot (yet again), that I bought a cheap Red Cape +1 for 200k during my Clothcrafting stint. So that brings the cost down to about 350-450k. Now obviously I didn't carefully track my expenditures, so take my post with a grain of salt. Take a look at it this way though: One stack of silk cloths can be synthed for 150k on my server. I can estimate that it took somewhere around 135-195 synths to get from 53-60. 150 / 12 = 12500 gil per synth - 2000 for NPC sellback = (rounded) 10k gil per synth. With 135-195 synths, that's a total of 1.35 million to 1.95 million. 135 synths is also being generous, I highly doubt it was that little. So with my synths only costing at total of 350-450k, that's a mere 33% of the lowest estimated cost of silk cloths (70% off! You know that's a bargain). With that I can safely say that Hunter's Cotton is a much better route to take.

[Byrthnoth]

Yes, I am now 62.7 having having stalled at 55 when the only synth option was Green Ribbons. I will probably finish at 63 this weekend, and then use the depressed crystal market and the 900k I've been saving to race to 72 as quckly as possible on Chocobo Fletchlings. Then I get to start making Rainbow stuff, which should at least not be loss, which is a welcomed change. I will keep updated.

[Wertyone]

Desynth cotton from Cotton Kyahan. You get seven threads from an NQ desynth. They cost around 2500 gil from the vender. So if you fail 50% of your synths you still only pay around 6000 for a stack of cotton. If you have bonecraft at 20 you can make your own powders for around 25000 a stack. Then you just buy water from the vender and earth crystals are cheep, 3-4k a stack.

So for 12 synths you pay (6000 x 3)+25000+132(water)+4000=47132 gil

Silk threads on my server is 40000 a stack. So 120000 plus crystal to make your own stack of cloth.

Thats three times as much gil for 12 synths.

Another thing that you can do to help in this stage is when you see that Linen Doublets are
the guild point item for the day, make them and sell them at the AH for a small profit.

[Last_Viper]

go to vendor and get your cotton thread for 600 gil each

as for desynth, you have to know what your´e doing or you will faile very much, means 3 fails from 5 synth or so. i can with little luck make 7 success in a row
but nice tip (um.. a bit too much for me ^^ if you understand... used to do the same)

[songbirdz]

Hey Byrthnoth, quick tip. Make sure to get the black chocobo feathers at the chocobo stable from the first place nation. You'll save money that way.
I don't know your economy, but when you hit 72, -try- to farm your spider webs. Even though I hear they're getting cheap across the servers due to the new area, a gil saved is a gil earned.
Is it safe to assume you've been good with guild points and have the Magnifying Specs, at the least? If not, hop to it!
Ok, last thing. When you hit 72 + start doing Puk Fletchings. Wind + 2 Puk Wings. Make sure to have as much guild support as possible, since these guys cap at 82. It's a nice, fairly cheap synth.
My Clothcraft is currently 74.8, and I plan to take the Fletchings until 82, then find something new. I think Arhats is next... -.-
Hope I helped, somewhat. Good luck!

[Byrthnoth]

Yes, thanks a bunch. ^^ I already got my Magnifying Specs (built up GP while waiting for Silk Road to clear). Thanks for the "Nation in First" tip. In my case, it will probably be windy anyway. I'll start stockpiling Puk Wings for the next levels after that. I've now got ~30 Wind Clusters on my mule (MrT). To give you some idea of how depressed the crystal market is on Garuda, I bought 14 stacks today for 20k sitting on one AH.
Now, I hate to be the one to suggest this, but Giant Bird Fletchlings cap at 93. Black Chocobo -> 72, Puk -> 82, Giant Bird -> 93? I know the plumes are helluva expensive though.

Here is what I'll probably do.
Puk Fletchlings -> 82
Master's Sitabaki -> 83 (I can synth on cap with skill+1 item, so small chance of HQ)
Devotee's Mitts -> 84 (same deal)
Hailstorm Tekko -> 86 (By this time I should have 2 skill +1 items, so still small chance of HQ, not that it's worth anything)
Gaia Doublet -> 88 (Same Logic)
Corsair's Hat -> 89 (This one is just cheap, who cares about HQ?)
Bishop's Robe -> 90 (Similarly, small chance of HQ, and another skill level)
Giant Bird Fletchlihngs -> 92 (93 Cap and I've heard it's 400k loss for 6 synths -_-)
Errant Slops -> 94
Blessed Mitts -> 96

After level 92, it doesn't matter what you make, because no one can get Tier 1, so anything you synth for skill, as long as you're on cap, has the same HQ rate as a level 100+3 clothcrafter. The only difference is that you probably don't have the same amount of gil to invest that a level 100+3 clothcrafter does.
I'm assuming that I'd get an HQ about 40-45% of the time on the "upgrade" synths that I only do for one level, and about 70-80% of the time for the ones that I do for 2 levels. Now, while I might be losing 10-20k per synth, a nice 3mil HQ shot in the arm would be pretty sweet and would serve to finance my craft pretty well. The main problem will be supply, and if I'm going to go this route I'm going to have to be very patient with the AH or possibly camp the NMs myself.

[songbirdz]

I'm about 60k into my Apron, so hopefully guild points will be kind to me and I'll get it by next week. :)
As for your ideas.. I like. I'm at work, so I'm going to nitpick over them, see how well they'll work out financially, and how obtainable other ingredients are.
Something to always remember is that desynthesis is every crafters friend. Who can resist getting some of your raw materials back?
Some helpful desynths I found were:
Corse Robe - Lightning crystal. Results are 2 velvet cloth, HQ is 3 velvet cloth.
White Mitts - Lightning crystal - Saruta Cotten. HQ1: 4 silk thread. HQ2: 2 wool thread. HQ3: gold thread.
Leather Vest - Lightning crystal - Sheep Leather. HQ1: 2 sheep leathers. HQ2: 3 sheep leathers. HQ3: lizard skin. Leathercraft 9 cap. Cheap to buy from NPC, and always useful to have. ^_^
Black Silk Neckerchief - Lightning Crystal - Black Ink. HQ1: Silk Thread x7. HQ2: Silk Thread x8. HQ3: Silk Thread x9. This is if you really wanna, and they cheap. Can't check AH right now, sooo....
Arhat's Hakama - Lightning Crystal - Sheep Leather. HQ1: Silk Thread x4. HQ2: Silk Thread x6. HQ3: Silk Thread x8.
Arhat's caps at 88, so I figure the desynth is right around there.

Granted yeah, you can get this info anywhere, but uh... I'm bored. ^.^;;

-goes off to nitpick over recipe ideas-

[Byrthnoth]

Here, I've done some significant research into the above recipes, so I'll help you out. ^^

Master's Sitabaki is made from Jujitsu Sitabaki, which drop nearly every time Hackeneyed Gnatbat is killed. This NM also drops the infamous Jujitsus Gi, so he rarely shows up and isn't immediately claimed/killed. This means that, as long as the AH price is greater than the NPC price, there is always a pretty good supply of Jujitsu Sitabakis. However, this is not one we can camp easily. (Jujitsu Sitabaki + Linen Cloth + Cotton Thread)
Devotee's Mitts are made from Zealot's Mitts, which are a similar drop off of Hoo Muju the Torent, the Monster Signa guy. Sometimes it's actually best to just go there and check people's bazaars. This is another one that isn't really campable, and the upgrade costs are sizable with almost no increase in the value of the item (on my server). (Zealot's Mitts + Linen Thread + Silk Cloth)
Hailstorm Tekko is made from Monsoon Tekko, which drops from Waraxe Beak, a Cockatrice NM in Meri-Mountains who is barely soloable by a RDM/NIN at 75 (so the supply is low, but I'm a 65 RDM). This is his only drop, and it's fairly worthless. I actually started stockpiling these a while ago. I need to get back to that. (Monsoon Tekko + Grass Thread + Cotton Cloth)
Gaia Doublet is made from Earth Doublet, which drops from Yaa Haqa the Profane in Castle O. This is probably the most, or second most campable NM. He drops only Earth Doublet and Frost Robe, so there shouldn't be much competition, and he spawns in a place people don't run through much. (Earth Doublet + Grass Thread + Grass Cloth)
Corsair's Hat is made from Marine Hat, which drops off Zo'Khu Blackcloud in Beadeaux (Faerie Shield NM). This is another one that should probably be camped or stock-piled. (Marine Hat + Wool Thread + Wool Cloth)
Bishop's Robe is made from Priest Robes, the previously desirable drop from Ashmaker Gotblut in Yughott Grotto. Since Baron's Siao came out, Priest Robes have become significantly less desirable, so it might be necessary to camp this NM (while mining?). (Priest Robe + Linen Cloth + Cotton Thread)
Giant Bird Plumes drop from "Greater Birds" I found one of the lowest level "Greater Birds" in Eastern Altepa Desert North East of the entrance to the most North East Quicksands Cave Entrance (north of the Korroloka Tunnel entrance). It didn't drop anything ; ;. With more people leveling in Lufaise Meadows now, maybe the prices will drop some more.

[Symrustar]

while doing skill ups off of items that are dropped from nms are deffinatly the cheaper way to go.... the availability of materials is extremely scarce. If you want to take a year to skill up then go right ahead with the that path... but u could prolly farm all the silk u would need for arhats in the time it would take to get the number of drops off those nms that u would need.

[Last_Viper]

i fully agree Symrustar...
i made 450k with 3 synth at level 81 cloth (cost 10k)
go make some profit and get the items you need from AH. will save you much time.

research is the way a crafter >80 gets money, not a guide or a forum ;)

[Pebbles]

Just wanted to add another useful synth to make the silk road shorter: Karakul Cloth.
It caps at 57, meaning it helps avoid the skill-from-breaks range for Green Ribbon and Hunter's Cotton. It even turns a profit on my server. Main drawback is that the threads are expensive (34-35k each, 370-400k a stack) so unless you're rich, you won't be making many at once (which is fine because supply isn't all that high). But cloths sell for 120-130k each (although quite slowly; most sell during JP weekend prime time), and skillups for me so far (54.4-55.5) were fairly common (using the crafting timer to synth as optimally as possible). So it's not the fastest option due to low supply and high prices, but it's a welcome thing to have a profitable skillup synth that overlaps the silk road.
In fact, if you have a highlevel thf, you can probably get some mileage out of the wool->thread synth by farming the karakuls outside of Nashmau. I think it caps at 55; but for me it wasn't an option (the wool is never on the ah).