2017 Smart Bitches Gift Guide, Volume 5

Blue gift box with silver ribbon on white background.Ready for round FIVE of our annual gift guide? So much adorable stuff, so much time to shop, unless you celebrate Hanukkah because then you’ve got less than a week (EEEP!).

In gift guides past, we’ve covered

This week, well, I don’t have a theme so much as I have a whole bunch of nifty ideas, some submitted and some discovered. We’re talking about crafting, personalized gifts, and a lot more. Are you ready? Let’s get to shopping!

Kareni sent me a few links that are just terrific, starting with this one:

Bamboo cutting board laser engraved with handwritten personal family recipe

Kareni wrote, “I saw mention of this gift elsewhere…. The person commenting mentioned that a man had bought one of these cutting boards for his wife and had it personalized with a favorite handwritten recipe from her recently deceased mother.”

How beautiful is that? You can send a handwritten recipe to this shop, PersonalizedJust4You, and they will laser engrave the recipe in the original handwriting onto a cutting board ($27+)Seriously. This idea just made several of my internal organs melt into a puddle of feels.

Kareni also sent some links to Bas Bleu, which is a dangerous website and I recommend you avoid it if you have an actual to-do list to accomplish today. A few of the links were out of stock, so I have found alternates. This one, however, Lady Macbeth Guest Soaps, I must share ($10). They also have Suds and Sensibility Guest Soaps (“to wash the land off the landed gentry”) ($10).

Carpe Librum long-sleeved shirt (XL – $21)

Bookmarks Are For Quitters long sleeved tee ($26)

Susan also emailed some links to gifts that she “really likes to give,” and they’re thoughtful and brilliant.

SmartWool socks ($18-24). Susan says, “This is one of my favorite thoughtful-but-generic gifts, especially for men. I’m not going to spend $20 on socks for myself every day but I love receiving them because they’re super well-made and cozy! And everyone needs socks. They also have running/hiking-specific models if your giftee is into those things.”

LED lights ($15 ). Susan says, “My sister got these for our whole family last year and they were a big hit. I keep one in my purse and one in my gym bag because I’m often walking home from work/the gym after dark. Also great for runners and people with dogs.”

Black + Blum Lunch Pot ($25). Susan: “People come up to me in the office kitchen and ask about mine all the time. Originally my mother-in-law got us one for Christmas and we had to buy a second one because we were fighting over it.”

Pink earbuds

These earbuds come in a bunch of cute colors and are inexpensive (Panasonic ErgoFit, $10). Susan’s rec: “I own 3 pairs because I tend to lose/destroy headphones easily. They actually hold up really well to my careless ways and I can wear them for 2-hour runs comfortably.”

I’d also like to add that I buy these regularly, too, and have a pair in my ears right now as I’m working on this post. Thank you, Susan!

Drew sent in some wonderful knitting gift ideas. Knitting folks, I apologize in advance!

Drew says, “A chart keeper helps you keep track of and only focus on the current row [and it] is awesome because of the portability, magnetic tracking lines, and is self-standing. Great for lace/cable/colorwork in knitting, but could be used for anything with separate lines of pattern (cooking, cross stitch, etc.).

It’s available at Knitpicks‘ website, and also at Amazon ($15).

Drew: I love Baggu reusable bags ($10) for carrying around projects – I have an awesome elephant one, but some are even fiber themed like alpaca.

Baggu makes several different styles of bag, too.

Drew wrote, “Yarn bowls and project bags are awesome in general, and lots of great ones can be found on Etsy too.”

And then I went down the rabbit hole, and y’all. Y’ALL. I had no idea adorable yarn bowls were a thing, but WOW are they a thing.

Shiny sheesham wood knitting yarn bowl with a curved cutout for the yarn

Sheesham yarn bowl, $16+, Fashoknit on Etsy

Yarn Bowl with tabby cat hanging off the edge

Yarn Bowl with tabby cat, $45, from Misunrie on Etsy

And of course, there is a Game of Thrones one – for both knitting and crochet yarn!

Ceramic bowl with a wolf head logo from Game of Thrones and either Winter is Coming Knit Faster, or Winter is Coming Crochet Faster

Winter is Coming, Knit Faster bowl, $39, from Creativity Happens on Etsy.

Ok, I’ll stop now. But trust me, you could lose many hours looking at the adorable and clever Yarn Bowls on Etsy. Thank you, Drew!

And Michelle wrote in with some suggestions, too:

Michelle: OH, LET ME SHARE MY CRAFTY GIFT IDEAS. (Sarah: YES PLEASE.)

Michelle: First up: storage. I really like the IRIS Ziploc weather resistant totes ($40). They are sturdy, stackable, and relatively lightweight. They also have a foam seal to help keep out bugs, moisture, and dust. I keep my yarn in them (the 16 qt size is perfect to set balls of sock yarn on end). Also good for fabric, floss, any sort of crafty thing. They come in lots of sizes.

Ebony wood needles in a colorful silk wrapper purse

For the knitters out there, here’s a beautiful set of ebony double-pointed needles that comes with its own fancy case. I personally knit a lot of socks and these are on my wish list: HiyaHiya Nirvana Double Pointed Sock Needle Gift Sets, Ebony, $65.

Double pointed needle sorter by gauge

And for knitters that have a million double pointed needles, a storage container that automatically sorts them by size. It’s magic. Handwork Hardware Double Pointed Knitting Needle Sorter and Gauge, $26.

Handwork Hardware also has an awesome sauce knitting chatelaine ($15), to carry stitch markers, a darning needle, small hooks to pick up dropped stitches. I want one.

And finally, the Stitch Encyclopedia series ($15) – there’s one for knitting, one for crochet, and one for embroidery. They’re reference guides to stitches and pretty to boot.

Thank you, Michelle!

Tracy A also sent over an Etsy shop that is ridiculous adorable. “NerdyKeppie has pride animals, shirts, patches, etc) as well as kippot and identity goodies. They also do custom orders.”

Y’all. Social Justice Witch: bubbling over with righteousness shirts, $20+.

Social Justice Witch - bubbling over with righteousness

Their identity patches are spiffy, too – definitely look at the whole collection.

Two last things!

One: I LOVE hearing from you with suggestions for the gift guide. As I’ve said so often, if you’ve got ideas or suggestions, email me!

Second: Any and all holiday and every day shopping you do through our affiliate links is immeasurably helpful to keeping the site going. I’m including links below for your convenience. Thank you in advance!

Buy from Amazon.com

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Happy shopping!

Add Your Comment →

  1. SandyH says:

    I can vouch for the literary soaps. A shop in my town carries these and they are lovely. I have already gifted several to friends.

  2. DonnaMarie says:

    Yarn bowls!! How have I gone my whole life without a yarn bowl?! Going on the Christmas list right now.

  3. Joanna says:

    I can highly recommend the Baggu bags – I have been using them for several years as grocery bags, they are super light yet super strong – you can really load them up, they show almost no signs of wear despite almost daily use, and if something spills in the bag just throw it in the washer and hang to air dry.

  4. LauraL says:

    Just pinned the cutting board! I must sneak a beloved former neighbor’s recipe away from my husband’s desk and have a board made for his birthday.

  5. kkw says:

    I just wanted to say, about the cutting board, that ymmv. I bet many, even most people would love it. Absolutely. But I am sure most of my loving friends would think that cutting board is the perfect thing to give me, and there’s a decent chance I would use it as kindling to murder the person who tried, so…something that brings up all the feels may not be wise.
    I’d love a yarn bowl tho.

  6. Chris says:

    Those earbuds are going to be stocking stuffers for the husband that loses his or they die on him after he lost a good pair.

  7. Chris says:

    I have a few of those Baggu bags. My kids each have one for transporting winter stuff back and forth to school. I keep one in my purse all the time and have a couple of others floating around. One used to be in my car and held my baby carriers.

  8. Lizzy says:

    Anyone have smallish ears and can comment on the comfiness of the ear buds? Most ear buds make my ears hurt like nobody’s business after about an hour and I’ve kind of given up on finding some that don’t.

  9. Caitlin says:

    I just got recipe tea towels made for my extended family! I tricked my grandma into writing out how to make her German potato salad and her spaetzle, then took the originals to a local print shop to have the towels made up. It cost $20 to make the screen (and the owner helped design it which was super wonderful), then $7/towel. They turned out so cute, and I’m so excited to give them out!

  10. Caitlin says:

    Also, re: knitting gifts, those shopping for knitters (or themselves, lol) should go check out the Yarn Harlot’s gift guides–many pretty things!

  11. Kareni says:

    Caitlin, what a lovely idea! I hope that our family members enjoy the tea towels.

    Thanks for another enjoyable post, Sarah.

  12. SQ says:

    @Lizzy – I have small ears!! These are great! I’ve always had a huge problem with earbuds and figured I’d try these due to the good reviews and the low cost. These are pretty comfortable and work great considering the cost – I’ve had them for around 6 months or so. The other ones I’ve found that work pretty well are SkullCandy Jib earbuds which I think are around the same price point. I hope you find something that works for you!

  13. GEM says:

    @Lizzy – these earbuds are great because they come with three sizes of “earpads” that you can swap out! I’ve found that I’m most comfortable with the medium ones that come on them, but I love the options.

  14. Kate says:

    I saw the cutting boards last year but didn’t have time to have one made, so I bought a wood burning tool from Michaels (40% coupon off FTW!) and some inexpensive bamboo cutting boards and made a few gifts for friends that said “Many have eaten here, few have died” because I wasn’t skilled enough to pull off the recipe yet. This year I’m determined to tackle my great grandmother’s snickerdoodle recipe for my brother. The downside of making these yourself is that it smells really bad while you’re burning the wood and I wear a mask.

  15. Caro says:

    Thanks for the link for the LED lights! I ordered them because when I’m in the car, there’s so many pedestrians that think they can be seen when walking on footpaths but they can’t because it’s either not lit enough or they have dark clothing. And when I’m walking home some evenings (and this time of year, it’s dark by 5pm) then I become THAT pedestrian!

  16. MrsObedMarsh says:

    Definitely getting the Chart Keeper for my mom! She’s always making cable knit stuff because it’s pretty – and so much easier than it looks, according to her – but half the time she makes a mistake and has to rip out a bunch of rows. I’m also getting the Frostbeard candles mentioned in one of the earlier gift guides for a few people on my list.

    I’d like to see a guy-themed gift guide next!

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