Loki!

Thor: "Are you mad, Brother!?"
Loki: "Possibly..."

This square is burdened with glorious purpose.  As soon as I decided to start on this project, I knew that Loki would have to be represented.  As in, his will likely be the center square, proudly displayed for all us mere mortals to behold with wonder.  This was one of the first designs I created myself, and thanks to Microsoft Paint, a fair bit of spare time, and an eye for detail, I think it turned out rather well.  Finally, all those hours of creating pixel art in high school when I should have been doing my homework have paid off!  (Kids, do your homework...pixel art doesn't pay well.)

The camera doesn't pick it up well, but the main color is actually a dark green.

Loki is the Norse god of mischief and chaos, who dwells in a sort of moral grey-area.  While he has been cast as the villain in numerous Marvel movies of late, the real (mythological) Loki was neither evil nor good...he was basically the ultimate chaotic-neutral.  He played pranks that often got out of hand, but it was never done maliciously.  I prefer to ascribe more of that vein of thinking to the Loki of the Marvel universe...and I've gotten into countless debates with friends over it.

Movie Loki is sarcastic, smooth-talking, always ready with a quip, deviously cunning, incredibly intelligent, tall dark and brooding, and oh my GODS that knee-melting smile...basically he is the embodiment of every misunderstood-bad-boy characteristic there is, all rolled up into one perfect package.  I could quite easily sit here all day and write an essay on why I love Loki so much, but let's just say that he speaks to the chaotic-neutral trickster in me.  Loudly.

Would it really be that bad if he took over the world?

This one was a bit easier for the husband to guess, given the trademark color combo of green and gold (actually more of a cornmeal yellow, but the best I could do).  He figured it out before I even got halfway.  He was surprised that I hadn't started with Loki, after all, given my obsession -- but I did want to practice my technique first.  After all, you don't want to mess up an homage to the God of mischief...he can be a bit temperamental.

Socken likes to pretend she's not interested.

Though the squares are generally designed to be reversible, I'm definitely keeping the gold-helmet-on-green as the front of this piece.  It's kind of Loki's trademark, and you just don't mess with the horns.  One trick I've found to keep the edges together is to wrap the knitting yarn under the other on the first stitch in every row.  This saves you from having to stitch the two sides together later.  Other people have suggested knitting the first stitch or two in the opposite color (which leaves you with a border around the edge), but you can choose whatever technique you prefer.

You can find my Loki pattern here.  Keep in mind that though the pattern is 45x57 stitches, when knitting, it does end up being a square.