Slow-cooker Pork Loin with Cranberries

I had a serious issue with this recipe! Namely, my roast was only 2/3 cooked when the my meat thermometer read 145 degrees. Here's what happened: the recipe calls for a 4.5-5 lb roast, which is too large for both my family and my small crockpot. The roast I used was 2.5 lbs. The recipe cautions against overcooking, and suggests 4 hours on the low setting as a time to cook the larger cut of meat. One is supposed to remove the roast from the crockpot when it has reached 140-145 degrees.

Reasoning that my roast was much smaller than that described, I decided to check for doneness at the 3-hour mark. The temp on my meat thermometer read 145 in 3 different spots on the meat, so I removed it and tented the roast for 10 minutes while preparing the sauce.

When I sliced the roast to serve it, the top 1/3 of the roast (the portion uppermost in the crockpot during the cooking) was totally raw and actually cool to the touch. I guess I placed my thermometer down into the cooked portion of the meat when I inserted it. Since we were ready to eat, I ended up nuking individual slices of roast to finish it off, and the dish was delicious. But... if I make this again, I will have to come up with a better way of timing the cooking and checking for doneness. Perhaps the roast could be turned over half way through? I realize that my difficulties may be the fault of my cheapo slow-cooker, and the fact that I did not use the thermometer properly, but I think the recipe might need to address these hazards.