As for Gathering Skills ...
Foraging: I went from 1-10 foraging in about 8-10 hours I believe.
Mining: 1-10 mining is about 6-8 hours I believe.
Woodcutting is more of pain though ... since there isn't that many trees to cut. I would suggest a 20% increase in trees to cut.
Skinning can take some time but if you find a pig farm its not too bad.
Fishing is fairly easy to raise, but not as fast as prospecting.
Farming doesn't seem worth the time so I haven't tried it really. There is too many steps upon first looking at it.
Crystal Cutting - Not introduced yet
As for Crafting Skills ...
Alchemy: I went from 1-14 alchemy in only 3 hours (you can buy the mats for it).
Cooking can be done similar to Alchemy (but the time between cooks is longer). Plus, you need a fair amount of logs for the fires (unless your at a range).
Jewelry - Not Introduced yet
Armorsmithing - not too bad, but not really enjoyable either.
Weaponsmithing - Probably the hardest to raise since you need planks and bars to create weapons
Leatherworking - Takes more time than armorsmithing to raise but less than weaponsmithing.
Tailoring - Haven't tried this out really. What say others on the topic?
Conclusion:
1) Woodcutting needs a boost in locations.
2) Would be nice to see crystal cutting / jewelry put into action in the next big update.
3) Alchemy and cooking will be very easy to do if you keep all the materials in the shops, is that how its intended to be?
4) Wool is currently very slow at respawning, more sheep are needed / quicker respawning is needed