Thanks for the links man. Both ideas are great. I already happen to have a weight vest that uses little .5lb bars, so that would be the quickest solution right now. Plus I can fine tune the weight that way. But what I'll most likely end up doing is just grabbing a few pieces of scrap wood out of the garage, drill a 2 1/8" hole in them, and then shave them down till I get 1lb, 1.25lbs and 1.5lbs. Shouldn't take long and it's free! I did the same thing for my bumper plates after I saw the price of those online. Lowe's sells an 18" round wooden table top which is the exact size of a 45lb plate. Bought 2, drilled a hole in the middle and got me some bumper plates for $20.

Eric, you are correct. I just skimmed through my copy of Starting Strength and I completely confused the knee thing. And don't worry, I never take the razzing seriously. What fun would it be if we didn't bust chops? I just hope I can break through this sticking point because I felt like I was making a lot of progress pretty quickly until recently. But I think between switching to microloading, increasing my calories, switching to actual shoes instead of flip flops, lol, and focusing on the bar instead of the ground I'll be fine. Unfortunately I have to wait until Sunday to test this out.