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I resigned before move 20. I was doing just fine :(

#1
They say that knight's backward moves are the hardest to find. My recent game is just one example.

The reason why I resigned is that I did not realize that Ng1 would both defend the f3 and the c4 squares.

If you are disgusted by 2f3 you might be right, but I have played that move very often and honestly it leads to fun games most of the times, with people of my level.

#2
I can certainly relate to resigning when I should not. One horror I played here just a couple of weeks back involved resigning because I couldn't stop the opponent promoting a pawn but failing to notice that I could get a pawnless endgame with K+R against K+Q, theoretically losing but very difficult and so keeping practical drawing chances.

But in this case, even if you didn't see 17.Ng1, the resignation seems quite unnecessary to me. Sacrificing the f3 pawn and continuing the K-side attack looks good. 17.Bh6 might be actually even better than 17.Ng1, answering either 17...Nxf3 or 17...Nc4 with 18.Qf4 and it looks good for White (to me). Did the idea of losing the f3 pawn really induce resignation? If so, changing that attitude might be in order, perhaps?
#3
Yeah, I don't really know but it just felt very hopeless. After f3,the g4 square would also fall, and their bishop was a monster. My knight on b1 was pathetic, they had a better pawn structure and in general it just felt like every piece was better positioned.
Nxf3 would also attack the queen.

I think Ng1 is the only move that does not lose immediately. If I allowed Nc4, Bxb2+ would follow. I find it pretty impressive that according to the computer evaluation White is only slightly better.
#4
Oh yes, I actually overlooked the vulnerabilty of b2 after 17.Bh6 Nc4 (must be far better than 17...Nxf3). I guess 17.Ng1 is indeed best then.
#5
Of course your position is not great, but assuming you overlooked 'moving my N covers the c4 square' then I probably would have just gone for something simple and a bit aggressive like hxg6. If black then wants to finish it with Nc4 you are already fine again (pretty much equal after Bg5).

Not saying this would have saved you, but even sacrificing f3 (e.g. 17. Qc2 Nxf3 18. g4) feels like the position still has quite a bit of room left for your opponent to mess things up.