Your main will see the patterns but will not be able to loot them. So you need to click on npc with the toon you want to have the item. A box will pop up confirming that you want to loot the bop item. If it is a boe item then it is a mute point b/c you can just trade it to the correct toon.

I am a firm believer in not having 1 of every profession on your team. It would be cool to be the only one on the server to have a pattern drop and make oodles of gold off it. I would think if this were to happen you would spend more time in trade than in instances. Also with the release of Wotlk I believe there will be profession based daily quests. Hopefully having multiple toons with the same professions will make this easier to grind.

My current Professions set up

shaone(main) alch/herbing

shatwo alch/skinning

shathree alch/mining

shafour alch/leather working

shafive alch/enchanting

I plan on keeping this while leveling from 70-80. When they come out with some epic bop leatherworking gear I plan on the following

shaone alch/lwing

shatwo alch/lwing

shathree alch/lwing

shafour alch/lwing

shafive lwing/enchanting

One thing that I have been worrying about is cooking. I thought I could get by with only one 375 cooker. But It looks like the only way to get northrend spices (spice needed to make the best food buffs) is through cooking dailies. This will make these spices a hot commodity. I plan on raising the rest of my team's cooking to 375 before the release of wotlk.