Tradeskills: Is there any correlation to item difficulty and chance to raise skill?

[Daallee]

Hey all.

I am working on training up my blacksmithing. My strength is around 200 and my wisdom is around 95. My starting skill was [182] and is did 90 combines of Fine Plate Visor (trivial 195). I ended up only getting 7 skill-ups, to [189]. Is that normal at this stage of training? Could I improve my success with skill-ups if I attempt combining a higher trivial?

Thanks for your help!
- Krixis <Dawn Believers>