Knit one, purl one and dropped stitches

I recently went through the torture of trying to learn how to use a knitting machine with some other students.
I was excruciatingly bad at it - definitely not for me. Knitting needles any time, thank you.
After about an hour this was produced, mostly done under the guidance of a fellow student and tutor.
It was the only piece that wasn't full of holes and odd loops. All the others suffered from dropped stitches, wool coming off the hooks when I moved the shuttle over them and so on... aaaagh!