I needed something quick any easy to work on. I have always loved these little characters, the Makurokurosuke Sprites from the Spirited Away animated movie. I couldn’t find a pattern that I liked that was crocheted, so i just made one up.

WHAT ARE THEY????
Susuwatari (ススワタリ “traveling soot”) are the “dust bunnies” or “soot sprites” in My Neighbor Totoro . They are shy, slightly frightful creatures that live in abandoned buildings an houses. They also appeared in Spirited Away as workers in Kamaji’s boiler room. They are small, black as sooty fuzz balls, with spherical bodies and two inquisitive eyes. They move by hovering around, but they can extend stick-like legs and arms from their bodies to do certain tasks, and can lift objects many times heavier than their own weight. In Spirited Away, Sen (Chihiro) befriends a number of them by helping them carry coal. But she finds out that if Susuwatari aren’t given a job to do, they turn back into soot. As a reward Susuwatari are fed like chickens, by throwing handfuls of the Japanese candy (Kompeito) onto the ground. They make a squeaky murmuring sound when excited, and dissolve into powder (soot) if crushed or scared.