can I skip the node and go right to the source?

Yes this is possible by overriding the node-content-feed_item.tpl.php (or similarly named, something like that) and setting the node title to link to feed source instead of the node.

You can see this in action here: http://www.momblognetwork.com/content/28-wrong-ways-28-right-ways-care-n... clicking on node title takes you to the source (could be applied in teaser/list view but we chose not to).

Does anyone have an example of how this might be done?

I've spent a number of hours trying to achieve this to no avail.

I would much rather my feed item node title link directly to the feed source - it's also more respectful of the original blogger.

Cheers

It's easy...
you just need to create a template file called node-feed_item.tpl.php saving it into your template directory.
You can do this just by copying the node-tpl.php and rename it, the only thing you need to do is to change the

with something like this:
<h2><a href="<?php print $node->url; ?>" title="<?php print $title ?>"><?php print $title ?></a></h2>
This will lead the users to the feed source whan they click on your feed item title..

See you
Da.