Noro spiral one-skein hat

I've got 3 balls of Noro Silk Garden Chunky. I have no idea what to do with 3 balls of Noro Silk Garden Chunky. It's not a lot of yarn to be sure. I decided to try making this hat (ravelry link). So far it's given me nothing but fits. The pattern isn't hard. I know it isn't. Logically this should be a piece of cake. So why isn't it?

I'm impatient. I hate ripping things out and starting over. Had to rip out my first go around because my holes were stacking on top of one another instead of in a spiral. On my second attempt currently. I did my ribbing and then jumped straight into the eyelet pattern instead of knitting a row first. Doesn't seem like a big deal so I keep going. Did an eyelet row, and then promptly did another one, forgetting to knit the second row. GDI! Do I keep going? Rip it back again? I decide to keep going and see what happens...what happens is now I have two holes next to one another but by my 3rd eyelet round I see my spiral finally taking shape. Now I'm wondering if I can get away with that first (ok, second) mistake and keep going at this point. I hate frogging stuff. Patience is not my greatest virtue at all. (god, how am I EVER going to handle knitting lace?!)

Another observation I've had: I fucking hate knitting hats on my denise interchangeables! Too much needle, not enough cord on the 16 inch so it's a fight to do every single stitch in a hat. Maybe I'm using the wrong cord? I'll come back to this issue later...I totally think maybe I'm doing this wrong.

And another thing...my hat isn't making pretty spirals of color like all of the others. Right now it looks like cat vomit. Nobody wants to wear cat vomit on their head, no matter how brightly colored it is.

I'm about ready to scrap the hat and make something else...but what else can you do with 3 balls of Noro? Three very small balls!