Victory Barnyard 1942

Victory Barnyard was printed by The Spool Cotton Company in 1943 in the USA.
​WWII was still going on and rations were in effect. Victory gardens were a way to supplement rations so The Spool Cotton Company put out a little crochet booklet for a Victory Barnyard. There's a rooster, a cow, a hired man, Susan (the boss), a duck, a chicken and chicks, a goat, two sheep (black and white), a horse and a pig. Each project has a little poem to go with it. All projects are done with crochet thread, usually two strands held together.

It seems the rooster's job is to wake everyone up. It takes a special cow to add a chocolate ice-cream cone on top of butter. Must save a lot of churning for the hired man.

I don't know why "awful" is in quotes in the poem. Are they saying he isn't bright?
​It's war time so women had to be the boss.

The duck is the first one that doesn't have a specific job or purpose. She's just busy. The sheep gives wool for for mittens and clothing.

The chicken is hatching babies. Seems like the eggs might be more useful. The goat had to give up his cans for the salvage board. Everyone has to give up something.

The pig poem is my favorite because it is so dark.

"When Hyacinth was born in May
No one could tell or even say
That all her little curves and joints
Would one day be redeemed with points
They only knew she'd give to man
Those luscious sandwiches of ham."

The chicken and goat could also be "redeemed with points" but they single out the pig.
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I'm going to attempt the chicken in the basket but not the little chicks that go with it. You can see that these cute illustrations are probably not going to be super helpful. There are no photos or illustrations of the finished crochet versions.