What's up with Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed?

I bought a bunch of this yarn about two weeks ago. It was on sale & I love her other yarns so I thought I would give this a try. I thought it would make a nice sweater for my husband. I chose the green color.

So last night I sat down to swatch for the sweater & it was a disaster. The yarn snagged a little and then broke when I tried to pull the end out of the middle of the skein. Then as I cast on it broke again, and again, and again. I finally gave up after it broke four times. I was never able to get more than ten stitches on the needles. I used the German Cast On method and didn't yank or mistreat the yarn in anyway. But everytime the yarn caught a bit on the slubby tweedy bits it would just come apart. It's not breaking in a clean, snapping break - it's more like the yarn just disintegrates. The way a cotton ball does when it is pulled apart.

Has this happened before to anyone else? With this yarn or others? I have another bunch of a different color so I am going to try swatching with that. Maybe the green dye was too harsh and over time has compromised the yarn fibers? I don't know - any ideas? I'm hoping the store will take it back but it was on sale so.....I'm a bit worried about it. :(

**Update**
I swatched with the lighter color which is #10 in case anyone wants to look it up. Although the yarn itself tends to get relaly thin in spots I didn't have any trouble with the lighter color. I am really leaning toward the harsh dye theory. The other defective yarn is color #08.

I'm not too sure about this yarn in general. It is kind of a pain in the *** to work with. Alot of people complain about how scratchy Noro Kureyon is (and it really can be although I still like it!) but this yarn is much worse. I doesn't slide across your fingers AT ALL and also tends to get tangled up on itself with very little reason. I do like the lighter color but I only have 1540 yards of it. The sweater I was going to make calls for 1520 yards. (I had around 1700 of the bad color). That is just cutting it too close for comfort for me. Especially since I think this yarn is a b***h to keep gauge with. It suggests a size 8 needle and I have had to go down to size 5 and I'm still a stitch short.

What d'ya think? I think this yarn is trouble. :(